Kowalski's Origin
by SmallerThan
Summary: It's obvious that Kowalski had to get smart somehow. read all about his and young Skipper and Rico's adventures, and now Private's adventures too. Read Grand Finale! Dedicated to Blouper :
1. Learning

This is my first story, so it probably won't be that good :) Tell me how i did PWEASSE! Also if you have any ideas or questions about Kowalski's Origin than you can send them to me and I'll incorporate them into my story. :D

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Kowalski's Origin

_Two penguins waited impatiently as they looked at the sea. The oldest scans the horizon waiting for his mate to come back. Nested between his feet sits a small penguin, barely a month old shivering in the cold. His name was Kowalski- named after his dad. Though he was still very young, his dad still tied to teach him well in the way of calculation._

**Kowalski's dad:** Keep an eye out son. Anything moving could be her.

Little Kowalski tries to get a better view of the sea by peeking out but draws back when he feels the stinging breeze.

**Kowalski's dad:** Now, help me consider the options son. If she left at sunrise, her target can be as far as Iceberg Cove, and she swims at a rate of 10 kilometers per hour than how long will it take her to get back if she has no interruptions?

Kowalski tries to count on his head. Not being able to figure out the equation completely in his head he tries using his flippers for help. Two flippers didn't take him very far though so he gives up with a sight.

**Kowalski:** _[In his high baby penguin voice]_ I'm not sure dad. I don't think that I'll be able to get those numbers right using only my head.

**Kowalski's dad:** Now, Kowalski, when a penguin has the odds against him, sometimes the only thing that he can depend on is the answer he gets. I you can't get an answer than how will you know when and how to act in order to complete the mission?

Little Kowalski looks down dolefully. His father realizes that he's being too hard on him and makes his voice gentler.

**Kowalski's dad:** Here, I'll show you a trick that will help you solve difficult problems. _[He searches in the bag next to him and takes out an abacus]_ You see, pretend that the beads are numbers and move them around depending on the equation _[He demonstrates using the problem he had asked him. Kowalski stares soaking up every detail of it.] _And once you're done you count the number of beads left and that's the answer.

Kowalski counts the number of beads left. If he had counted right than his mom should be back at 3:06 p.m. He checked the time by the trajectory of the sun the way his dad had taught him and told his dad the results.

**Kowalski:** She should be getting here I the next ten minutes, dad.

**Kowalski's dad**: Good job son! _[Pets his head]_ now you know when to act, a critical statistic when in combat.

Kowalski beams at the compliment. Together he and his dad waited for his mom with refreshed spirits now that they had an approximate time. Just as they predicted within ten minutes she was there. She was a medium sized penguin with gentle looking features, the only thing that gave away her military training was the alert way in which her eyes surveyed her surroundings. They were the same shade of Topaz that Kowalski and his dad had. She walked up to them smiling. Kowalski ran out from underneath his dad despite the cold and ran to hug her.

**Kowalski:** momma! Did you bring fish? What was it like? Daddy showed me how to calculate your return and we were right! He showed me how to use the abacus!

Kowalski's mom smiled down at him. He was a lot like his dad and she knew from past experience that you had to wait for them to finish talking if you wanted to get anything said.

**Kowalski's mom:** Well, you sure must have had an exciting day! Yes I brought you fish. I'll tell you all about it after dinner. _[She feeds Kowalski his fish in the typical penguin way]_

**Kowalski's dad:** Helen, it's good to see that you're back. _[He hugs her. He than turns to make sure that Kowalski wasn't listening; he was busy playing with the abacus]_ It's getting too dangerous for us to keep on like this. We've already left our flock and now I'm the only company that Kowalski has. He needs to be around others his age. It's also not worth you risking your life just so that you can get him food. _[He stares into her eyes and she sees the panic in them]_

**Kowalski's dad:** _[Looking away] _I've considered all the options and there's only one left_. [He looks over at Kowalski again and lowers his voice,]_ We have to send him away.

Helen's eyes widen in shock.

**Helen: **_[Voice shaking]_ How can you suggest that we send away our only son? If we're here it's so that we don't have to be away from him. If I have to risk my life every time that we need food than so be it, but I will not leave him. No one knows that we're here and they have no way of tracking us down. We will stay here with him.

**Kowalski's dad:** We have a mission to complete Helen! We've already delayed it and now our enemy knows our one vulnerability, our son. If they get their fins on him than we'll have no choice but to hand over the blueprints. We're jeopardizing our son and the lives of all the others under the clutches of Blowhole!

**Helen:**_ [Puts her flipper to her lips] _Shhhh! [_She looks pointedly at Kowalski who was now staring at them wide-eyed, the abacus forgotten]_

**Kowalski:** Momma, are you and Daddy fighting because of me? Did I do something wrong?

**Helen:** No sweetie, Daddy and I are just…_[Thinks quickly] _debating whether to teach you to read yet.

_Kowalski's attention is instantly sidetracked_.

**Kowalski:** Reading! Really? _[He looks at his dad with hopeful eyes]_

**Kowalski's dad:** _[Pretends to smile]_ Sure, son! After all reading is an essential part of a good cadet. Come on, let's get to it. Get my clipboard and pencil from the bag and I'll show you.

Kowalski runs enthusiastically to follow his dad's orders. He searches trough the small amount of items inside the bag and easily finds the clipboard. He slides back to his dad who sits next to him and begins to write down the alphabet. Helen watches them apprehensively. She knew that Kowalski was right and that it was too dangerous for little Kowalski to be with them, but she couldn't bear the thought of sending him away. She knew that the only place safe enough for him would be in the military training base for young penguins, which was in the opposite direction of where they were going. She doubted whether he'd be able to make it through that. Kowalski's intelligence exceeded that of most penguins his age but his fighting skills hadn't been developed yet. Kowalski's dad was in charge of him and, being an expert at anything intellectual Kowalski had been taught well, but not being much around his mother because of her long fishing trips Kowalski lacked the fighting skills. Between Kowalski's dad and her Helen was the best fighter so it had been agreed that she would be the one to teach him the fighting arts. They hadn't considered at the time that they would have to go into hiding though. Without combat training she knew that Kowalski would have a rough time, but she would never send him there…would she?

Momma!

Little Kowalski's call brought Helen's thoughts back to the present.

**Kowalski:** Momma! I know the alphabet! Daddy showed me the A sound!

Helen smiled though she was still preoccupied. She didn't want her little Kowalski to know how worried she was.

**Helen:** That's great Kiwi! Keep it up.

Little Kowalski laughs at his mom's use of his name.

**Kowalski:** Silly Momma! It's Kowalski, not Kiwi.

**Helen:** But you are a Kiwi _[laughs]_ you're soft, small, and fuzzy.

**Kowalski:** _[Looks down at his feathers]_ Kiwi's have feathers?

**Kowalski's dad:** No. A kiwi is a fruit from the tropical forest of South America. It is a small, oval-shaped, and covered in tiny hairs used to protect itself from animals by ticking them when eaten.

**Kowalski:** _[Giggles]_ So kiwis defend themselves by ticking?

**Helen:** Yes. However, tickling won't save this kiwi from taking his nap.

**Kowalski:** Aww, do I have to? Daddy didn't finish showing me the alphabet yet.

**Helen:** He can show you later, now off to sleep.

Kowalski nested down underneath his dad's feathers and soon fell asleep. While he slept Helen went over to look through his dad's clipboard. She saw the alphabet written across the first page.

**Kowalski's dad:** It's the second to last page.

Helen looks at little Kowalski sleeping soundly and than at older Kowalski. He was tall and trim with a smart and composed air about him. He always seemed to hold an erect posture of confidence, yet right now his shoulders were hunched and he was avoiding her gaze. Helen turns to the page that he told her. She read the title across the top. "Options to protect Kowalski". Underneath there were many options written down yet only one of them wasn't crossed out. She made out the words underneath the deep pencil lines going across them.

Throw mission (Hand over blueprints)

Relocate (Back to tropical homeland?)

Take Kowalski along with us on mission

Disguise selves and Kowalski as typical penguins and find flock to live with pretending to be normal (Destroy blueprints)

_Her eyes skipped over the one not crossed out_

Finish mission by myself while Helen cares for Kowalski

Hand mission over to another cadet (Most are unsuitable)

_Finally she goes back up to the only option left intact._

Send Kowalski away while we complete mission (MTB)

Her eyes watered as she realized that it really was the only alternative.

Kowalski's dad was a practiced inventor and had made blueprints for a perpetual energy machine, a machine that generated its own energy. With it, doors would open for all kinds of gadgets that would never run out of steam when you most needed it; it was perfect for military use. Unfortunately it was also fit for use in destructive weapons. Dr. Blowhole had been informed of this versatile little machine and now had most of his man working to get Kowalski's invention. Even more unfortunate was Blowhole's discovery of Kowalski's son. It was obvious to anyone that a child would complicate things for any undercover agent but to Blowhole it meant much more than that. If he got hold of Kowalski's son than he could hold him captive until Kowalski handed over the plans. This observation had made little Kowalski Blowhole's main target. Kowalski and Helen had gone into hiding to keep him safe but there were already too many that knew them and too few those that they could trust. They had get those blueprints to the military's headquarter so that Kowalski could present them as a new technology but the trip was too dangerous for a young penguin to come along. They would first have to leave him at the training base and than go to the HQ, it was their only hope of keeping him alive.

Kowalski woke up later that day. He looked around and realized that they were now inside a cave, there was some sunlight filtering through the entrance, form the angle of its beam he estimated it to be around 5:00 in the afternoon. He heard some rustling on a corner of the cave and realized that his mom was still there. She was packing things into their bag, but something felt wrong. He concentrated more on her behavior and realized what it was. Her movements were stiff and slow as if she had to fore herself to do it bit by bit. Kowalski was confused. What was going on? He looked up at his dad in hope that he would enlighten him but his dad didn't even acknowledge his presence. He was looking at his mom his flippers extended out towards trying to reach her but his body was rigid, keeping him in place. His eyes showed just how torn he was. Kowalski was now not only confused, but also alarmed. He had never seen his dad look so distressed.

**Kowalski:** Dad?

Kowalski's dad seems surprised to hear him as if he had forgotten that he was even there.

**Kowalski's dad:** Kowalski you're awake. _[Sights]_ Son, we have something important to tell you.

Helen finishes packing and turns to look at them. Her face was composed and Kowalski couldn't tell what she was thinking, for some reason this sent shivers down his spine. He ran out to her and hugged her leg. She bends down and stares at him evenly.

**Kowalski:** Momma?

**Helen:** Kowalski, you want to grow up to be a good soldier right? _[Kowalski nods his head]_ Well, sometimes when you're a soldier you have to be away from your family so that you can be trained properly. _[She takes a deep breath]_ Kowalski we're sending you away.

Kowalski keeps looking at his mom with blank eyes. This couldn't be right. He tried examining the possibilities on his head like his dad told him to do. Was this a dream? April Fool's day? Maybe his parents were simply testing him…

**Kowalski:** I don't understand Momma.

Helen takes the bag and hands it to Kowalski.

**Helen:** You're going to the military training base. We won't be you instructors anymore. They'll train you better Kiwi; you want to have the best training don't you?

Kowalski's eyes fill with tears. So none of the possibilities were right. His parents were serious about sending him away.

**Kowalski:** But Daddy's showing me the alphabet, and I already know one letter. Why can't he teach me? Is it because I haven't gotten calculus yet? I promise that I'll try harder.

**Helen:** _[Unruffled]_ Listen Kowalski…[_Kowalski whimpers and she can't put up the façade anymore] _All right, I'll tell you the truth. Kowalski, We have been here because we're hiding. There are bad people who are after us and now they're after you. We have to keep you safe so you'll have to go, but we'll come back for you, I promise. Now come on [_She takes his flipper]_ your ship is about to leave.

Kowalski not knowing what to do allows himself to be led away. Kowalski's dad takes his other flipper and gives him a reassuring smile as they walk out of the cave.

_The walk to the port seemed to Kowalski to take forever. Seldom was said and the only thing that his parents did besides walk was occasionally take out some fish to feed to him. The cold stabbed at Kowalski through his baby feathers but he barely felt it. He was still stunned and unsure of what to feel. When he finally came to the port though, all of the emotions that he had been holding back struck him so hard he though he would be crushed underneath them. Fear, confusion, sadness, and the gnawing feeling that this was his entire fault settled on the pit of his stomach and twisted it into a cold, hard knot that made it hard to swallow. He looked up at the huge ship that sat in front of him. It seemed to him to him like a never-ending beast ready to devour him. Helen bends to his level and put a flipper on each of his shoulders._

**Helen:** Always remember that we love you Kiwi.

**Kowalski's dad:** With all our hearts.

Kowalski can't hold back anymore and begins to cry. The tears trail down his beak leaving a burning trail compared to the cold. The sobs escape him and he shakes along with them. They were so hard to control he felt that he would choke on them.

**Kowalski's dad:** _[sights]_ Tears; a mixture of salt and water used to relieve the body of stress in moments of immense sadness. _[He wipes Kowalski's tears away while reaching for the bag next to him] _Here, I want you to have- _[He's cut off by Helen putting her flipper over his] _

**Helen:** Do you hear that?

The ice suddenly explodes underneath them as a killer whale suddenly jumps out of the ice and into the air. It flips and makes a grab at the penguins with its sharp teeth. Helen grabs Kowalski and shields him protectively with her body. Kowalski's dad takes position in front of the whale. Kowalski stares wide–eyed.

**Kowalski's dad:** Helen go! Put Kowalski on the ship I'll keep it distracted.

Helen hands Kowalski the bag.

**Helen:** Kowalski, I need you to be brave right now. Your father can't do this by himself. Climb those stairs and hide under a crate as fast as you can. When you get to the base give the letter to the General. Hide the bag and don't show anyone what's in it, understand? Now go!

Helen shoves Kowalski into the dock. He runs up the stairs as fast as his little penguin feet could carry him. Once on the ship he dives quickly onto a crate that was stacked up against it. From it he peeks out to see how his mom and dad were doing. They were still fighting the whale. It slammed its tail down over his mom and his dad jumped on top of it to try to get it off of her. Kowalski cries out to them.

**Kowalski:** Momma! Daddy!

They don't hear him as they fight. The ship begins to pull away. Kowalski looks around frantically for a way down so that he can help his parents. He looks up at them again. They were side by side facing the whale. It jumped up and slammed down on top of them taking them both underwater. The last Kowalski sees from the three of them is the red blood spreading across the sea.

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Yeah, I know, not a happy beggining, but now you know why he's so smart! How about reviewing on this?

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	2. adapting

So seems that i have to write a disclaimer

Alright, than, I don't own penguins of madagascar (as much as i wish to) Here's the new chapter, hope you like it!

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Ch.2 Adapting

Seeing his parents disappear into the ocean had frozen Kowalski in place. Seeing the blood had suddenly kicked all of his training into gear. He breathed in to calm himself down and searched through the bag. He took out his dad's clipboard and pencil. He didn't know how to read or write, but pictures would work for him. First he looked at his situation. He drew himself with his parents beside him, than he drew an X over them. He than drew a boat leading to the military base. He was about to draw his plan of action but he didn't know how to draw "options". Luckily he remembered that "options" was always the first word that his dad used. He looked back at a page and copied down the letters. Underneath he drew down the options that he had.

The first was a drawing of him jumping off of the ship to search for his parents. The second was one of him staying on the ship.

As much as he wanted to go with the first choice he knew that there was nothing that he could do now. Instead he settled down on top of a crate. There would be a long trip ahead of him.

While on the ship Kowalski took inventory of the things that he had in order to pass the time. On the clipboard he drew some fish, a compass, a letter, a pencil sharpener, and some papers filled with some complicated looking diagrams. The diagrams drew Kowalski's interest. He spread them out on the floor and looked through them. He could understand most of the measurements and equations written down along the pictures but he couldn't figure out what the machine was for. There was no title on the paper or any other incentive as to what it could possibly be. His parents had never mentioned anything about him having to build something, in fact, the last time that he had tried to build something it hadn't gone well. His dad had been teaching Kowalski to build dynamite. Kowalski was barely able to talk at the time but he was still able to construct a very efficient bundle of dynamite sticks. As he was walking along though, he tripped while holding the remote that controlled the dynamite and set it off. His dad had pushed him against the ground and they both survived but there was a very big mess left over from the explosion. When his mom got home the only thing she had been able to say was "What…" Kowalski had than jumped excitedly and said "Momma I made boom-boom!" Helen had not seemed very happy. After that he hadn't been allowed to construct anything else. So than why were these blueprints inside the bag? Something flashed through his mind. Before he had gotten on the ship his mom had told him " Hide the bag and don't show anybody anything on it, understand?" Was this what she wanted to hide?

It took two days for the ship to hit port; meanwhile Kowalski had gone all over the ship. He took notes of everything on his dad's clipboard to keep him occupied. Even though the ship was full of people he still risked going out of his hiding place to take notes, not only because he was bored, but also because not having his mind occupied allowed him to remember, which he tried to avoid at all costs. It was a bit helpful for him though, to study the ship as he gained a lot of knowledge and learned to use the clipboard efficiently. After the first day he had already gotten used to having the clipboard by his side and taking notes of observations he made. By the second day the clipboard had become another part of him.

Kowalski's Log

_[This is the interpretation of the drawings that Kowalski drew on his clipboard]_

_[Night 1]_ It is now night. Crew aboard ship appears to be sleeping so I will take the opportunity to look around. Ship appears to be carrying cargo. Upon opening some crates I realized that they were filled with a variety of items. Some, which were more like giant containers, had giant frozen fish; most of them though, were filled with blocks of wood and steel. I believe that this is all construction equipment as Daddy once told me that humans build their houses out of these materials.

_[Morning 1] _This ship is actually not as large as I first believed it to be. I t mainly consists of the cabin, a large storage room, a few dorm rooms, a dining room, and a very bright place that the crew call "the game room". It is very loud there, but the people become too absorbed in their activities there so I'm able to take the time to observe them. People seem very ill suited for survival. They have no beaks to catch fish with, no flippers to swim with, and even more oddly, no feathers! Daddy told me that our feathers allow us to swim and help us keep warm, yet here we are in the coldest place in the world and there is actually a living being without one single feather. They seem to have another type of cover though. When they are outside they wear some very fluffy coats with some head covering attached. It seems to cover them from the cold so I can't criticize them for that, what bothers me is that as soon as they come inside they simply take them off! I can't imagine being able to take my skin off whenever I feel like it, but they can. Their coats are also far more colorful than the average penguin feather. They remind me of the feathers from the picture of a parrot that Daddy once showed me. I think that maybe humans are trying to imitate parrots as a form of camouflage in hopes of keeping up with survival tactics.

Inside this "game room" there is an odd black box that seems to hold smaller versions of humans. At first I thought that they were being held captive but than I realized that somehow they don't even seem to recognize that they are inside it. They go on, uncaring to anything outside of their square domain. They don't seem unhappy either One of them was on top of some sort of platform with lots of lights doing what they said to be "rapping". There were many other humans surrounding him gleefully. Once he was done a female person took over the screen and declared him to be "the coolest rapper of the moment". I don't quite understand how they can consider this loud performance cool. The lights, clothing, and dancing didn't seem to be cooling them down a bit, on the contrary, when the camera did a close up on him the man was sweating. People sure are an odd species.

_[Night 2] _I overestimated the amount of fish I had; now I'll have to take some from the crates. These are dramatically bigger so I'll have to mince them up. Since Momma is no longer here I had to learn to swallow fish whole. It's actually not as hard as I thought it would be, if a bit terrifying at first. These fish are bigger than me though, so the possibility of me eating them whole is 0%. Perhaps I can smash them against the ship. It might also make it easier to let them thaw inside first though.

These are some very heavy fish. Slippery too. Although, Momma once told me that if you can't fight the enemy than you have to turn the things that make them difficult to defeat to your advantage. Well, if it's slippery than I can slide it, and since it's heavy than it should be easy to push down a ramp.

Got the fish inside but if I'm calculating right (I'm still trying to get the hang of the abacus) than it should take till midmorning for it to be soft enough to mince. I have seen humans place their cold food inside a white box, much like the one in the game room. This one is a bit more flat and instead of people it has light. The humans push a button and than the food spins along in the light. Once the box makes a beeping sound they take the food out and you can practically see the steam coming off from how warm it is. Perhaps I can place the fish in there to speed up the thawing process, but how can I get it up there? Perhaps I could make a pulley out of some rope that I saw on deck, some towels, and the handle on the cabinet above the warmth box.

The pulley was a success! Now to put the fish in.

This box is too small.

There is a bigger warmth box though. It seems more complicated than the too-small box but it is my only choice.

It wasn't as hard as I thought. I turned one of the knobs on it and put the fish inside by relocating the pulley. The box began to cook the fish instantly. Now I need to find something to grind the fish with.

Options for fish grinder:

Crate (big and heavy)

Barrel (big and heavy)

Other fish (big, heavy, and slippery)

Steel block (big and heavy)

Something going on in kitchen, lots of noise and humans running around. Going to take a look.

The warmth box is on fire! The humans aren't working very effectively together. Mostly screaming, running, and blaming each other. Fire's getting bigger. Considering the spreading speed, and the room size I calculate fifteen minutes before the room is completely consumed. I'll have to help them put it out. However i need something to outweight the bucket of water as it is too heavy for me.

Options for weight:

chair (too light)

crate (too far)

Red tube-like container

Tied the rope to the pin on the red container and tied the rope with the bucket through the window. If I haul fast enough I might make it.

THE PIN FORM THE RED CONTAINER HAS BEEN PULLED OFF! The bucket fell to the ocean. Some sort of white substance is gushing from its nozzle and the container is spinning wildly around the room. This is not good. Last option; abandon ship.

Unexpected notice. The white substance seems to be putting the fire out. The mission might not be lost yet. Oh good! One of the humans has gotten to her senses and is now aiming the nozzle at the source of the fire.

Fire's gone! Mission accomplished.

Fish mission failed. The fish is covered in the white matter and is burned beyond repair. Guess I'll get food until I get to the base.

_[Morning 2]_ Status: Tummy growling, need fish.

Options for food:

Try to eat big fish (too hard to chew)

Wait out (too hungry)

Eat people food

Only one option left.

No food. Not even people food. Apparently they kept all of their food in the kitchen, which is now very damaged. Reminds me of the time I set the dynamite off. The people aren't very cheerful today, not even those inside the game room. Some began to talk about fishing some food and I began to get my hopes up, but they are all too mad as they still haven't found the culprit and aren't very trusting of each other right now. Amazing! These humans would rather starve than to get food! Starving is now a possible problem for me.

Mamma and Daddy told me "Giving up is like throwing yourself to the seals." Well, for them I won't give up.

More options for food

Try hand out at fishing (I've never caught any fish, or swam before, or even lost my baby feathers yet)

Eat human

I'm not one to try to eat something so much bigger than me. Than again, fishing right now is also like suicide. I could tie a rope on deck to me so that I don't drown though. Catching fish might be a bigger problem.

Rope is securely tied to ship and me. Approximate distance between water and me, 24 feet. Possibilities of catching fish: 1 in 376. Possibilities of survival: 1 in 948.

Strange thing on the horizon, the people seem excited. Of course! We're nearing land! Possibilities of survival considerably increasing, now to try to get this rope off. Need to think of options for cutting it off of me.

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Thanks for the reviews! Please post what you think of this new chapter, I'm still arookie at this sort of thing :) And now you know why he's so attatched to that clipboard


	3. Testing

K-O. So here's the third chapter as you already knew. This will be the introduction of some VERY important characters so pay close attention.

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Ch. 3 Testing

The ship pulled to a stop. The people on the ship began to unload excitedly. Kowalski grabbed his bag and got off of the ship as fast he could. Once on the dock though, he didn't know what to do. This dock was definetly not very tropical as the sky was gray and the people here still wore their parrot coats. Kowalski wanted to take the time to figure out where his exact location was but there were people everywhere so he dived into the nearest bucket. There, he took out his clipboard and thought of options. Right now the most important thing was to find whomever it was that would pick him up. The problem was that he had no idea what he or she looked like, and he was sure that going looking for him/her wouldn't do him much good since he didn't know his way around. He remembered his parents telling him frequently "if you ever get lost stay where you are, it's easier to find you if you're not moving". He drew option one as staying in place. After that he couldn't come up with any more options so he sat there listening to the waves of the sea and the cries of the seagulls. Soon he heard some tapping outside of the bucket. He peeked out of his apparently not-so-good hiding place and came face to face with a penguin like no other that he had met before. This penguin had some yellow coloring under his beak and he had some yellow feather tuffs coming out of the side of his face. The strangest part about him though was the belt he wore around his waist, which was adorned with a bunch of pockets no doubt filled with all kinds of military implements. He had a friendly face but Kowalski could still recognize the alertness in his eyes.

"Hello soldier" said the penguin; his voice was raspy and sharp. Kowalski stared. The penguin laughed at his flabbergasted expression.

"Guess I'll have to do the talking than. I'm Commander South." Kowalski shakes his head and comes to his senses jumping out of the bucket.

"I'm Kowalski" He drew himself up straight as he said his name, realizing that his parents weren't here anymore to talk for him or encourage him on whenever he met new people. From now on he would be in charge of himself.

"Kowalski eh? So you must be Lieutenant Kowalski and Commander Helen's son. How are they?"

It was a simple question. Kowalski had definetly been able to answer more complex ones with total confidence yet, somehow as soon as the Commander said those last three words Kowalski felt as though the wind had been blown out of him. He struggled to answer without air, his body beginning to shake. He felt a cold dread spreading through him as he remembered. Hard as he had tried these last two days to hold back the memories he just couldn't do it now. The images flashed through his mind, the ice breaking, the whale trying to get them, his parents side by side, the ocean turning redder with every wave.

"Kowalski? Calm down soldier!" Commander South sat him down on a piece of wood "Now, take a deep breath." Kowalski did as he was told.

"Open your eyes" Kowalski opened them. Commander South was looking directly at him "You need to get yourself together. Whatever it is that happened you can't let it control you." Kowalski nodded. He tried to think about something else, anything else and out of habit took out his clipboard. He took note of his surroundings and of the penguin in front of him. Little by little he began to feel in control of himself.

"There now" said Commander South as soon as he saw that Kowalski was calm "Can you tell me what happened?"

Kowalski took a deep breath. He could do this.

"A killer whale ambushed us just when I was about to get on the ship" Commander nodded.

"Yes, they work with Blowhole. How did you survive that?" Kowalski looked at Commander South confused.

"How did I survive?"

"The whale tried to get you after it got your parents right?" Kowalski shook his head.

"No. The whale took my parents underwater and they all stayed there." The Commander seemed to be deliberating something.

"You had some great parents you can be sure of that. A killer whale wouldn't have stopped at nothing to get a hold of all of you. Your parents must have made sure that it would never be able to."

Kowalski was staggered.

"Well," said Commander South suddenly "time to get a move on. We want to be in the station by 0200 hours. Follow me." Commander South began walking away with out even looking back to see if he was following. Kowalski hurriedly grabbed his bag and ran to catch up with him. Commander South was definetly faster and more agile than he looked. He moved from hiding place to hiding place in swift movements that Kowalski found hard to imitate. They continued this way until Commander South came behind the wheel of a sleek, black car parked behind a fish store. Commander South took a look around before he opened the car door.

"Get in soldier." Kowalski threw his bag in and jumped in. The car had tinted windows so it was dark inside. As his eyes adjusted Kowalski made out the leather seats and two cups on the cup holder. A closer looked showed that they were filled with fish. Kowalski's stomach growled audibly as he sat down.

"Hungry?" asked Commander as he got in. Kowalski nodded his head.

"When was the last time you ate?" said Commander handing him a cup and taking one for himself.

"Yesterday afternoon" answered Kowalski holding back the urge to swallow the fish cup and all.

"Didn't you carry rations with you?"

Kowalski blushed.

"I accidentally left some fish outside so they spoiled. I didn't realize it so I ate the rest and when I realized what had happened there were no more left." He looked down ashamed of his carelessness.

"Well, why didn't you take some food from the humans?" asked the commander.

Kowalski felt himself blushing even more.

"I also accidentally set their kitchen on fire." He waited for the scolding that he was sure to get. His dad had told him that military folk were very strict. To his surprise Commander South began to laugh loudly.

"You sure are something soldier" He tapped on the front seat "Take us to the base Shimmy."

Kowalski turned to see who the commander was talking to and would have chocked on his fish had it not been for Commander South slapping his back.

"You, you-YOU HAVE A HUMAN DRIVING!" Kowalski managed to choke out. Commander South laughed. Kowalski couldn't figure out if this was a naturally jolly guy or if it was just him that he found so amusing.

"More like a human dummy, see?" He knocked on the dummy's head and a hollow sound resonated. "It's just in case a human looks in and sees no one at the wheel."

Kowalski realized that it was indeed a fake human, if a very real looking one at that. He settled back and resumed eating his fish relieved that their cover hadn't been blown.

"You all set Commander?"

Kowalski almost chocked a second time. Had the dummy talked?! The commander didn't even bother hitting his back he was too busy laughing. He gave one last chuckle as he answered.

"Yeah Shimmy, get her going" The car started up. Commander South turned to Kowalski.

"The dummy's for camouflage. Shimmy here is the one who drives." He pointed to the seat and standing on the dummy's lap Kowalski could see a penguin turning the wheel. It saluted him smiling. This penguin was more like the penguins Kowalski was used to. This beak was all orange and he had no feather tuffs. He was a bit shorter than Commander South with light brown eyes that glowed with mischief.

Kowalski settled on his seat. He took a guarded glance around before beginning to eat again.

"So Kowalski" began Commander South still smiling "How much training have you had so far?" Kowalski took out his clipboard and wrote down the total amount.

"Well, my father trained me since I was an egg on mathematical concepts along with historic literature. He also taught me basic concepts of –" Commander waved his flippers.

"All right, I think I've got an idea. So you're covered in the intellectual level, but what about combat?" Kowalski stared. Combat?

"You mean like fighting?" he asked

"Only kind of combat that there is." Replied commander smiling.

"Oh" Kowalski looked down "I never really …started on that"

It was Commander South's turn to look surprised.

"That's definetly a first," said Commander South after a minute " Don't worry, I'm sure we can curve. Before we figure out in what group to place you in though, we have to give you a physical analysis to make sure you're healthy."

"A physical analysis?" asked Kowalski. He could remember his dad telling him about how he also had to take a physical analysis when he first joined the service. His dad had also admitted that he had been afraid of the optometrist; there had just been something about having someone aiming a light at you and looking at your eyes so directly that crept him out.

"Of course. As soon as we get to the base you're going straight to the hospital wing for your check-up. We've got ourselves a new doctor who promises to have a surplus of certifications on file. You'll be fine don't worry yourself. Now, tell me, how did you set the kitchen on fire? That must have been amusing to get out of."

Kowalski told him the story. Both Commander South and Shimmy laughed at the end.

"Quite the luck you've got boy." Said Commander South chuckling.

"It amazes me that you were able to put it out after it had spread so far," said Shimmy from the front seat "Spinning the extinguisher around like that was an intelligent move."

"Actually, I doubt whether I would have been capable of it if I had done it on purpose." Replied Kowalski.

The car pulled to a stop. Shimmy rolled down his window. Outside there was an intercom.

"Password?" asked the intercom.

"Two blue swords and a wheel" replied Shimmy. A gate opened in front of them as Shimmy drove in. Kowalski's eyes widened as he took in the scenery of the vast building before him. The walls were topped with barbed wire, watchtowers stood on every corner, and in every one of those towers he could make out the outlines of someone holding something that looked very rifle-like. He got out his clipboard and took note of the security tactics this place had.

"Don't let the façade get to you soldier," muttered Commander South "the real defenses are a lot less noticeable."

Kowalski was taken to a waiting room.

"The doctor already knows that you're here," said Commander South " wait here and we'll come get you later." With that he left Kowalski by himself in the waiting room. Kowalski took out his clipboard and began to write. He was the only one there. There were a number of penguin anatomy charts along the wall. The room was not very big; there were only 4 other chairs besides his, a palm tree, a desk on the corner, and a small center table. He could hear a clock ticking somewhere above him making his nerves buzz. His dad had been afraid of the optometrist, but he had told him that it was mostly just an illogical fear. There was no reason to panic.

In order to pass the time Kowalski went over to take a look at the anatomy charts. Kowalski loved knowledge, but some of the pictures were making him a bit sick. It was amazing the amount of diseases that a penguin could acquire.

The door opened suddenly making him jump. Kowalski turned and saw his doctor for the first time.

Kowalski couldn't stop staring. This doctor was even creepier than the pictures. He was much like Commander South in the yellow beak and tuffs but his beak was twisted into a sort of forced smile/sneer that he doubted Commander South would ever wear and his yellow tuffs were twisted and broken giving him a slightly demented look. It was the eyes that got to Kowalski though. They seemed to be dilated to twice the normal size of what would be expected in a room filled with light. The edges were an electric blue that didn't help out for a sane look on him.

"Why hello there" said the doctor "I am Dr. Reece. Please come in." He beckoned inside. Kowalski hesitantly walked in. He went to sit on the examination table but Dr. Reece stopped him.

"Oh, no, you sit here." said Dr. Reese as he pointed to a reclining chair. Kowalski followed the doctor's orders. On the wall next to him he saw rows of certificates. Feeling that he was in good, if a bit creepy, hands he leaned back on the chair.

"All right," said the doctor "Now, I'm just going to put this little strap on you to make sure that you don't try to run away and hurt yourself." He reached under the chair and pulled out some straps, which he used to bind Kowalski's flippers and chest. Kowalski was starting to fell less relaxed as the straps dug into his skin from how tightly the doctor had closed them.

"Now, I'm a dentist, so the first thing I'm going to check is your beak. So, all you have to do is relax and take very deep breaths, ok?" He produced a black mask with a tube attached that reminded Kowalski a bit too much of the red container from the night before. He was starting to feel anxious.

"I don't feel that this is normal routine" said Kowalski trying to keep his voice from shaking.

"You're right" said Dr. Reece. " I was planning on putting you to sleep and than taking you to Blowhole so that he could question you himself, but you're right. Somebody might notice that, so instead we'll do things the normal way. If you tell me what I need than I promise to kill you quickly, if you don't well, let's just say it won't be pleasant." He walked towards his cabinet and pulled out a very sharp-looking knife. Kowalski could practically hear his heart's rapid beatings. This could NOT be happening. Dentists weren't supposed to threaten you with knives were they?

"You can't get away with this," said Kowalski at a pathetic attempt to scare the doctor "Commander South is coming to get me soon, and if he sees you pointing a knife at me he won't be very happy."

Dr. Reece laughed sending shivers down Kowalski's spine.

"You really think that I can't get you to talk, kill you, and hide all of the evidence before he gets here?" he asked closing in on Kowalski. Kowalski didn't answer, he didn't trust himself to speak without it coming out as a squeak. Dr. Reece seemed to be enjoying seeing Kowalski so terrified.

"Now, can you open up wide and tell me where your parents are?" Kowalski searched for a way out. Than he remembered what his mom had told him; "If you're ever caught keep your captor distracted while you think of a way out." He had to answer these questions if he wanted to buy himself some time.

"They're…gone" He couldn't bring himself to say it. It would be like giving up, throwing them to the seals.

"Dead?" asked Dr. Reece. Kowalski cringed at the word. " So that part is true than." Kowalski was taken aback. Dr. Reece knew? How did he know? Unless…

Kowalski fought fiercely against the straps, all of his fear replaced by anger.

"Oh, a little feisty aren't we?" Dr. Reece chuckled "If I were you I'd save my energy. Those straps are practically unbreakable. Anyway, question 2. Where are the blueprints?"

Kowalski stopped struggling.

"Blueprints?" he asked. Really he was figuring that if the straps really were unbreakable than he might be able to turn that to his advantage.

"Come on now, don't play ignorant with me," Said Dr. Reece pressing the knife against his throat. "You know what I'm talking about." His eyes seemed to be trying to pierce into his mind. They were so focused that it looked as if there was an electric storm going on inside them. Kowalski tried to think of options. He wished desperately for his clipboard to think with.

"You're crazy!" yelled Kowalski.

"Perhaps," answered Dr. Reece amused "You know there's a difference between crazy and original, although I think that I might be both." He said pressing the knife down harder.

The knife was so shiny that the glare of it hurt Kowalski's eyes, not that he needed any more distractions his mind was already scrambled enough. That was it! A distraction. Kowalski pretended to try to edge away from the knife. As he expected, Dr. Reece readjusted the angle of the knife so that he would have a firm grip against his throat. As he moved the knife the light's reflection hit his overly dilated eyes momentarily stunning him. Kowalski took the opportunity to take the knife by the handle with his beak and used the blade to quickly unlatch the strap that bound one of his flippers. Dr. Reece tried to take the knife away but Kowalski jabbed the tip of his flipper to his throat. Dr. Reece staggered back holding his throat as he chocked and sputtered, the white of his eyes now a blazing red. Kowalski hastily undid the strap that held his chest. Dr. Reece leapt after him and managed to take the knife from him. He cut the air with it as he aimed at Kowalski. Thinking quickly Kowalski grabbed one of the straps and raised it in front of him, blocking the knife. Dr. Reece infuriated, once more thrust the knife at him. Kowalski ducked while struggling to undo the last latch that held his left flipper. The latch came undone and he dived as fast as he could away from Dr. Reece. The doctor jumped over the chair in an effort to get to him. Kowalski ran to the door as a nervous cry escaped him. Dr. Reece threw the knife at Kowalski. Somehow, perhaps out of pure instinct, Kowalski caught the knife in midair by the handle. He turned with the knife on hand and faced his enemy. Dr. Reece seemed taken aback by the development of things.

"I'm going to leave now" said Kowalski. He raised the knife warningly as he backed up towards the door, his eyes on Dr. Reece. He felt a gush of wind behind him as the door opened. Kowalski turned surprised and found himself once more before Commander South.

"Commander South!" cried Kowalski so relieved that he dropped the knife. "That psychotic dentist tried to kill me!" He pointed at Dr. Reece who was now surprisingly calm and smug. Kowalski waited for Commander South to act; instead he stood staring Kowalski with an amused look on his face. Kowalski couldn't believe it.

"Aren't you going to do anything?!" he cried "He's a murderer! He knew about my parents!"

Commander South shook his head.

"Of course he knows about your parents. I told him what happened."

Kowalski was speechless.

A chuckle behind Kowalski made him turn around.

"Haven't you figured it out yet Kowalski?" asked Dr. Reece smirking as he walked towards them. Kowalski backed up.

"Figured out what?" asked Kowalski really missing his clipboard at the moment.

"Why that Dr. Reece and I are in league together of course" replied Commander South.

* * *

Can you feel the suspence? I promise to have the 4th chapter up by the end of this week, maybe sooner if i hurry. PWEASSSE review! I want this story to be REALLLY good (you can tell cause i spelled really wrong) and i need ur advice in order to do that. Also, you guys are awesome at reviews :) remember to post your suggestions and questions of Kowalski's origin!


	4. Training

* * *

Yeah! the fourth chapter! remember to review so i can know if i need to make any changes or add anything!

* * *

Ch. 4 Training

"What!?" Kowalski was beyond shocked. This couldn't be happening.

"I arranged that Dr. Reece do this to you. It's part of your test." answered Commander South. Kowalski was beyond confused.

"A test?"

"Well, we had to make sure that you were military material." He grinned, "I'm proud to inform you that you pass. You managed to escape with no wounds, didn't give away any vital information, and you even managed to take the knife away from Dr. Reece. Great idea using the straps as shields may I add."

"How do you know that?" asked Kowalski astonished.

"Why we have cameras set up all over the room." replied Commander South " I watched your performance all along to see how you did, ready to burst in case anything went wrong."

"But Dr. Reece put a knife to my throat," said Kowalski unconvinced "that seems to already be out of control."

"No" said Dr, Reece picking up the knife. He ran it down his flipper. The blade slid past without cutting him. "This may look sharp, but it's practically harmless."

"Come on soldier" commanded Commander South "time to assign you to your new crew." He led the way out of the waiting room. Kowalski still had his doubts but he would rather be with an untrustworthy Commander South than with a killer dentist. He gave one last suspicious glance at Dr. Reece, who smirked in return, and ran to get his bag.

Commander South took him down a hallway and into an elevator. Once there he pressed the number –15. The row of buttons reached from floor 1 all the way down to -387.

"Where are we going?" asked Kowalski.

"To my office" replied Commander South "I think that I know exactly who to assign to your team."

Kowalski pondered over the prospect of a team. If this really was what was going on and not an ambush than it would be his very first time on a team. The closest he had ever gotten to one was his mom and dad, since when he was a week old his family had left the flock. This had left him very little time to interact with other penguins his age so he had very little idea of how to act around them. What if they didn't like him?

The elevator pulled to a stop. Kowalski followed Commander South into a large office. There were four large file cabinets against one wall, a desk with a lamp, neatly arranged notepads, and a bowl of candy. In the middle of the room sat a very comfy looking chair, which Kowalski assumed must be for visitors. Commander South took out a radio from one of his many pockets and paged someone.

"Get the two recruits that I told you about and tell them to report to my office." He said into the radio.

Commander South turns to face Kowalski.

"Take a seat Kowalski, and help yourself to a snack if you want" he said beckoning to the bowl. Kowalski sat and stared at the candy. This could be another trick. What if the candy was poisoned? Yet, he remembered the first time he had ever tasted candy.

_His mom had seemed very ruffled that day, but also very pleased with herself. _

'_I've got you a special surprise' she had told him. Kowalski was expecting maybe new batteries for his calculator, or a compass but instead his mom had fed him the sweetest most delightful thing he had ever tasted. _

'_What do you think?' she asked him smiling. Kowalski had jumped around and begged for more. His mom gave him the last bit of it that she had. _

'_What's it called Momma?' he had asked her. _

'_Candy.' his dad answered 'The forbidden fruit flavored food consumed by human children'_

Kowalski couldn't resist. He reached into the bowl and took a flipperful of candy. And another. He grabbed a third to keep for later. The bowl was noticeably empty. Commander South sat down, not seeming to mind the drastic decrease in his candy stack. He reached into his cabinet and pulled out 3 folders, spreading them out before him.

"These, Kowalski, are your new team's records. This one's yours" he said holding one up " and these two are from your team mates. I've studied their qualifications and believe that you will be of great help to one another." He leafed through them.

Kowalski was about to ask a question but a knock on the door stopped him.

"That should be them," Commander South told Kowalski "Come in!"

Kowalski turned expectantly.

At the door stood two young penguins. Like Kowalski they still had their baby down although one of them seemed to have already started to loose them. This one had vivid iceberg-blue eyes, a curved belly, and a sly smile in place. The other penguin was slightly shorter with topaz eyes, a scar on his beak, and a small Mohawk. His tongue lolled out on the side of his beak happily. He was covered in some sort of dark powder but didn't deem to mind.

"Kowalski" said Commander South "meet your new teammates; Skipper and Rico." He waved both of them in as Kowalski stood up. The one called Skipper walked up to him confidently.

"Great to have you as part of the team Kowalski" he said giving Kowalski a military salute. His voice had a smooth way about it that made his words seem to slide one over the other in an elongated way. "This here's Rico. He doesn't talk much but he's a fun fella." Rico stepped up too. Out of nowhere he regurgitated a firecracker. He held it out to Kowalski with a grin on his face.

"Cou-als-ki" he said in a voice that sounded like a squeak toy. Kowalski figured that he meant for him to take it.

"Err…thanks Rico." Said Kowalski shoving the firecracker inside a pocket from his bag. Skipper snickered.

"Rico's a bit obsessed with explosives. In fact you just saved him from being punished for breaking into a barrel of gunpowder." Said Skipper chuckling at Rico's look of glee as he remembered.

"Yes," said Commander South standing up "and that is one of the reasons that he's been assigned to your team. Rico being an expert in explosives and combat should be able to help you and Skipper out on that. Skipper has good reasoning and outstanding leadership skills. He has the most experience in the military so he will teach you and Rico to think as a team. Than there's you Kowalski. You're one of our youngest cadets already assigned to a team and with good reason. With your college level IQ you should be able to help Rico and Skipper with any information that they might need. A fitting choice of personalities on my side if I may be so bold."

Skipper, Rico, and Kowalski looked at each other smiling. They could already tell that Commander South was right.

"So they threw the old psychotic dentist trick on you. Not a lot of recruits make it out sane after that one." declared Skipper.

Kowalski and Skipper were talking in their new bunkroom while Rico washed off the powder from his feathers. Now part of a team Skipper and Rico had been switched out of the dormitories to a dorm room with Kowalski since teams got to share a room. They had already gotten settled with their things. There was a drawer for each of them and two bunk beds; one on the right and one on the left. They didn't really care who slept where so they had agreed on rotating spots every night. Tonight Kowalski would take the top right bunk with Rico underneath while Skipper got the left bunk bed to himself.

"So what was your test like" Kowalski asked Skipper.

"Mine was as mind boggling as yours." replied Skipper dramatically "I had to fight off giant bullfrogs. It was a living nightmare of bulgy eyes and long sucking tentacles that shot out of their mouths. I wouldn't have made it if I hadn't remembered that bullfrogs are very uncoordinated. Those squishy tentacles turned out to be of great help after all. I'll bet they're still trying to untie themselves from each other." Finished Skipper proudly.

"How long ago was this?" asked Kowalski taking note on his clipboard.

"Two years." Replied Skipper self-satisfied. He notices Kowalski writing on his clipboard. "Are you writing all of this down?" He asks pointing to the pencil.

"Affirmative" replies Kowalski "I find that taking note of current conversations tends to be versatile for future reference."

"Err…right." Said Skipper skeptically "and you do this all the time?"

"On occasion. Right now it's so that I can reach a better understanding of a fellow juvenile penguin's behavior. More specifically; you"

Skipper, as is to be expected, was a bit disturbed by this. He could handle a pipsqueak- sized penguin talking with complicated words even though his voice was high-pitched, but when said penguin began an analysis of his every word he drew the line.

"Listen Kowalski, you can't be taking note of every remark that someone utters. It's not…normal. How about instead you just listen real careful to what others say and forget the clipboard?"

Kowalski considered this. Perhaps Skipper was right.

"What about when we try to make an analysis of a crime scene?"

"In that case you can write down everything they say down to the last gesture, but in normal conversation you should try to keep it to a minimum. Kay?"

"Agreed." Said Kowalski putting his clipboard away.

Rico came in from the shower with a towel on his head like a turban. White mist floated by him in swirls.

"What about Rico's test?" asked Kowalski.

"His was five months ago," replied Sipper. He gave a sudden chuckle remembering "He has the fastest time on record. Plan was to have some of the instructors dress-up as zombies to attack him but at the time they didn't know Rico's way of handling problems. Darn close blew the base to smithereens with that grenade he set off. The instructors surrendered and allowed him into the military all in two seconds flat."

"KA-BOOM!" exclaimed Rico excitedly.

Skipper looked at the clock on the bedside table.

"Look alive boys. Training begins in twenty minutes and we haven't even shown Kowalski around yet."

Rico regurgitated 2 pencils and two notebooks. He handed a pencil and notebook to Skipper. Kowalski grabbed his clipboard. Together, the new teammates set out to their classes.

* * *

Kowalski's schedule, like all of the others, was personalized according to his weaknesses and strengths. His academic classes took place with the senior's class while his fighting classes took place with level 1 recruits. He had the same class with Skipper and Rico on Weapon's Handling, Dance Routine, and Situation Reasoning. Since they were on a team they got to have 3 hours daily of Team Development. This was basically free, unsupervised time during which they trained together on routine and helped each other out. Before Kowalski had come along Rico and Skipper had instead taken General Training during which all of the recruits that hadn't been assigned to a team yet trained together. Skipper told Kowalski that being in general Training had nothing to do with experience, but with compatibility. Higher-ranking cadets chose penguins that worked effectively together and once those trainees had been assigned together they weren't allowed to switch so it had to be a flawless decision. Sometimes the right recruit had to show up before others were placed on a team, which was why some were still in General Training. Skipper and Rico had already shown their ability to work together, but a team had to be composed of at least three penguins so all that was missing was Kowalski's arrival. The three of them got along perfectly, soon learning to communicate with single word commands and finishing each other's sentences. Inside their group they even each gained a certain unspoken label. Skipper became the leader, Kowalski the thinker, and Rico the pugilist. Commander South had been right, it had been a fitting choice of personalities.

* * *

Kowalski brushed the snow off of his feathers. He had been at the academy for five weeks now. It was 4th block, which meant General Training. Today the team had decided to take the time to teach Kowalski to fight. So far he wasn't doing well. He had learned to do the moves that he was commanded to, but when it came to hand-to-hand combat he tended to overanalyze his situation. Right now he had been knocked over by Rico's wooden pole, a weapon he had swallowed when the teacher wasn't looking. Kowalski rushed to pick up his clipboard before the snow got it soggy. Calculating the density of the stick had not been a good idea. He didn't need to finish the equation to realize that no matter how dense, it would still hurt to be hit with it.

"Come on Kowalski, stop thinking" commanded Skipper from the sidelines, his head being the only part of his body still covered in gray feathers. Rico nodded.

"But if I don't think than how will I know what to do?" asked Kowalski rubbing his back.

"Act on instinct," responded Skipper "When you're fighting it's the only thing that wants to keep you alive."

Kowalski considered this. Whenever he had seen his dad fight (which was, in fact, when the whale attacked them) he hadn't seen him take out his clipboard; he had acted on instinct. Kowalski realized that Skipper was right.

"I'm sorry Skipper," replied Kowalski "let's try again shall we?"

"All right" answered Skipper "but first, Rico!"

Rico was already attuned to Skipper's commands. Without hesitating he took the clipboard from Kowalski and swallowed it. Kowalski stared shocked.

"Rico, how did you manage to eat an object more massive than your jaw capacity?"

Rico shrugged happily and got back in position.

"Are you ready?" yells Skipper. Rico and Kowalski nod. "Go!"

Rico aims at Kowalski with the wooden pole, an excited look on his face. Kowalski searches frantically for his clipboard or anything else to write on, his flippers waving wildly. He tries thinking of options as Rico slashes the pole at him. Kowalski feels the pole make contact with his flipper, a very painful one. He had to think of what to do.

"Come on Kowalski, instinct!" yells Skipper

Kowalski remembers. His dad hadn't used the clipboard, his dad had dived away. Kowalski dived away just as Rico was about to hit him. Rico is momentarily surprised but quickly regains his focus. He aims at Kowalski again but Kowalski barely notices. He was remembering the moves his dad had done. A backward flip had saved him so he did that too. Kowalski imitates his dad's movements in correct procession sending Rico on a wild chase after him. The last thing he had seen his dad do was jump on the whale. He doesn't even flinch as he feels Rico hit the ground. He takes the pole away from his flippers and aims it at Rico. Finally he comes back to reality when he sees Rico's shocked expression, a sight very rarely seen. He looks around and sees all the other surrounding teams staring at him awe-struck. Close by stood Skipper with a proud look on his face.

"Aces Kowalski!" cheers Skipper breaking the silence. The rest of the teams begin to cheer jumping up and down, some of them loosing a few of their gray feathers in the process. Kowalski blushed at all of the attention. After five weeks he had finally won a duel.

"Now what's going on here?" asked Commander South, his voice rising above all of the cheers. All of the young penguins snapped into attention. Commander South walked up to Kowalski who was always able to give a full, clear report.

"Two words or less soldier" he commanded. Skipper took mental note of the phrase. Kowalski blushed noticeably under his gray feathers. The other recruits snickered quietly, knowing that Kowalski had never been one to gloat, let alone to the commander.

"I won." said Kowalski in a small voice. Commander South laughed.

"Against who?"

"Rico." Rico stood up with a big grin on his face nodding.

"Rico?" asked Commander South disbelieving. He raised his eyebrow. "In that case, I think that you and your team are ready."

"Ready for what exactly?" asked Skipper jumping in.

"You'll see." answered Commander South smiling mysteriously. He turned to leave "You and your team report to my office after 6th block."

Kowalski, Rico, and Skipper looked at each other. Some of the penguins from the older teams looked at each other knowingly, a gesture that Kowalski didn't miss.

Of course, once Commander South left Rico, Skipper, and Kowalski forgot all about training and instead began trying to think of options. Skipper was about to speak when the bell rang, signaling the end of 4th block. Rico regurgitated Kowalski's clipboard on which Kowalski quickly began to write down options. On the way to class he also tried to ask the older teams what was going on but they refused to answer, saying that it was something that they were all sworn to keep secret.

Once in class he could barely concentrate. Dance was something that he found degrading and unnecessary and today he found it especially stressing. Learning to dance was a requirement added by a female Cadet insisting that it taught agility and timing; Kowalski was in no condition for either. He tripped more than 5 times and even stepped on his dance partner Snowflake. She knew what had happened though and easily forgave him. Skipper and Rico had to slap him to get him to turn the right way at least twice. By the end of class Kowalski was a nervous wreck writing down notes on his clipboard and scratching them over again. Skipper and Rico were also anxious but they didn't have a clipboard in front of them constantly reminding them of it.

6th block came along and Kowalski was still clueless as to Commander South's cryptic remark. Luckily his next class was Calculus, something that he had always been able to completely focus in. Unluckily this was not one of those days. Every 6 that he saw on the equation that they assigned him reminded him of his oblivion to what was coming up. In response to this constant reminder he would frequently take out his clipboard to write down more options forgetting his equation completely. For the first time since he got to the academy, Kowalski turned in an incomplete Calculus assignment. Mr. Skerb, his teacher, made him do twenty push-ups to make up for it.

With 6th block finally over Kowalski rushed to the elevator and punched in floor –15. He wondered if Rico and Skipper were there yet. Rico had Basic Learning on floor –4 while Skipper took Pre-Algebra on –7. He was on floor –5 so he figured that perhaps he'd get there somewhere in between. Once in the hallway he found Skipper waiting outside the door looking as nervous as he was. Rico arrived a few seconds later on the elevator seeming relaxed and unaware of what was going on. They greeted each other quietly and knocked on Commander South's door.

"Come in" they heard him say.

The room now had 3 chairs in it and a bigger table, which sat full of documents. Commander South stood waiting for them with his flippers behind his back.

"Please, take a seat." He pointed to the chairs.

They sat down on the chairs, still wondering what this was all about. The documents on the table seemed to be full of charts, maps, and notes; not a very good incentive as to what was going on.

"What I have here" said Commander South also sitting down "is the papers that detail the objectives of your first mission."

Kowalski, Rico, and Skipper gasp in unison. Their first mission?!!! Of course, Skipper had already been on some missions by himself in the past, but this was his first time with a team. Commander South smiled at the look of eagerness on their faces.

"This could be a dangerous mission lads. We've gotten word that some of our planes keep going missing on the same spot. We want you to scope it out." He took a paper from the pile. "This is the map that outlines the perimeter of the area in which they disappeared." The penguins looked at the map. There were some red dots inside a blue triangle. Kowalski recognized the location.

"The Bermuda Triangle?" he asked skeptically.

"That's the one." answered Commander South his face surprisingly serious.

"All right" said Skipper jumping off of his chair "I give. This is all some sort of prank isn't it? You're just trying to get inside our minds to see if we would actually fall for it. Well, it isn't going to work!"

Commander South remained calm throughout Skipper's speech.

"On the contrary," He said, " This is quite the opposite of a prank. We don't know what it is that makes them disappear. It's your job to find out what happened and if you can, bring back the planes."

Skipper still seemed unconvinced.

"Maybe this will show you that this isn't a prank." Said Commander South standing up. Rico, Skipper, and Kowalski look at each other confused and stand up to follow him. Commander South went down the hallway and into the elevator. He turned waiting for them to get in. They slid onto their bellies to get to him faster, almost colliding with each other. Finally they got to the elevator where Commander South promptly pushed button 1. Neither of the three young penguins had been to floor one besides for when they walked by to get in or out. What could possibly be so interesting up there?

The elevator door opened. They walked out to the front desk where a receptionist sat. Next to her was another young penguin. She was very small and had bright brown eyes. She was organizing the papers on the desk while the receptionist told her how. Commander South cleared his throat.

"Oh, Commander South…and recruits" she said looking at them. The young penguin sat next to her also looking at them interestingly.

"I'm taking these young lads to the air station" said Commander South. The receptionist nodded.

"Annie has the key," she said shrugging to the small penguin beside her "Annie, can you take them there?" Annie nodded smiling.

"Follow me" she said in an especially sweet voice leading the way to a door that blended quite well with the wall. No wonder they hadn't seen anything special before. Annie turned the lock of the door. A loud spinning sound came from the entrance suprising Kowalski, Rico, and Skipper. They walked in hesitantly looking around for the source of the sound. They didn't have to search very far. The sound came from a helicopter in front of them.

"So do you believe that this is a real mission than?" asked Commander South.

Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico nodded their heads quietly.

* * *

yeah, more suspence. Don;t wory though, I've got the next chapter ready to write! A special thanxs to Gatorgirl1245 for letting me use her idea of Kowalski taking dance lessons! those will come in handy for later.


	5. Arriving

5th chapter! HURRAY! thanxs for teh reviews. You guys are awesome! and now back to the story!

* * *

Ch 5 Arriving

Commander South had only given them 15 minutes to get all of their things ready.

After a quick trip back to his office for a short explanation of their trip and some maps for them to carry he told them to hurry or the helicopter would leave without them. He had assured them that their teachers would not mind their absence, as this was what they had been training them for all along. Right now Kowalski, Rico, and Skipper were all rushing to get anything that they might need, but also trying to carry light baggage. Rico was trying to decide between a machete or an ax, Skipper was trying to pick out the right fish, and Kowalski was looking for a hiding place. He already knew what to take as he had previously done a list of options for things to carry in case of a mission; the hiding place though, was for the blueprints. He and his team mates respected each other's privacy so he hadn't worried of them looking through his drawers one day and finding the blueprints, but now that he was leaving he felt that he needed to find a better spot to put them in. He doubted whether he should take them since even after hours of secretly looking at them he still didn't know what it was for. In order to find out what it's for he would have to build it himself but it seemed impossible to accomplish that without Skipper or Rico finding out so what was the point? There was still the possibility, though, of someone finding them if he left them behind.

"Come on gents!" yelled Skipper "We have to be ready in less than 5 minutes."

Kowalski looked more frantically for a hiding place writing possibilities down on his clipboard. Under the floorboards? Behind the drawers? Perhaps a secret panel on the wall? They all seemed too obvious. Where was a place where you would least expect to find blueprints of a complicated machine? Kowalski looked up at Rico who had finally decided on the machete. He swallowed it in one gulp, seeming unharmed by the sharp blade. Kowalski smiled. Rico's little talent could come in to be so handy.

* * *

They rushed to the elevator quickly. When Skipper realized that Rico seemed to have no filling point he asked him to just carry all of their things. Kowalski had refused to hand his clipboard over but had let him eat his bag with the rest of his things. Rico shoved it into his mouth as they got to the elevator. There were only 2 minutes left. Skipper quickly punched in floor 1. In a few seconds they were on it, waiting for them was Commander South and Shimmy. In the reception desk sat Annie looking very glum.

"Nice of you to join us" said Commander South casually "helicopter's on the same room as before."

Rico, Kowalski, and Skipper walked quickly to the same door followed by Shimmy. They climbed into it excitedly. Shimmy went to the front of the helicopter.

"All right boys, I'll be your pilot today." He yelled over the sound of the helicopter "please put on your seatbelts, don't stick your heads out the door, and whatever you do, don't push each other out of this helicopter, understand?" Kowalski, Rico, and Skipper nodded. "Get ready for liftoff!"

The helicopter swayed from side to side as it flew upwards. The three young penguins hung on to the seat as tightly as they could feeling that perhaps they would fall out if they didn't. Over the sound of the spinning blades they could hear Shimmy laughing. The helicopter finally stopped swaying and they relaxed.

"I didn't know you could drive a helicopter Shimmy." said Kowalski once he got over the shock of almost falling off of a helicopter in flight.

"I don't" said Shimmy grinning broadly.

"You don't?!!" exclaimed Skipper "Holy mackerel! Hang on to your seats boys!"

Rico and Kowalski hung on tightly once more to their seats. Shimmy laughed.

"Don't worry guys, I've always had a knack for vehicles. Why I learned to drive when I was just a young hatchling." He declared proudly. Skipper still seemed unimpressed.

"That doesn't guarantee that you won't turn us into a penguin pancake." He said narrowing his eyes.  
"True" answered Shimmy amused " but it's either me driving or one of you."

"Are you making an offer?" asked Kowalski. Shimmy rolled his eyes.

"Never mind." These penguins were too self-fulfilling for him to handle.

Skipper turned to Kowalski.

"How are we doing so far Kowalski?"

"Well," said Kowalski flipping through his clipboard " If we manage to come out alive from this helicopter ride we should land at the next island in about 5 hours. We'll have to rush to get to the right plane from there. If we manage to get to it than we should land on the Bermuda Triangle sometime tomorrow."

"Great job so far man!" Skipper congratulated as the last few bits of his gray feathers flew out of door revealing his shiny black feathers underneath.

* * *

"So how's the academy going you guys" asked Shimmy "Have you set any kitchens on fire yet Kowalski?" he asked chuckling. Kowalski pretended not to hear, hiding his blushing face behind his clipboard.

"You set a kitchen on fire Kowalski?" asked Skipper incredulous.

"It was all an unfortunate incident" replied Kowalski hurriedly " I didn't know that the warmth box would set on fire like that."

"The warmth box?" said Skipper raising an eyebrow in confusion. Shimmy chuckled.

"I think that he means the _stove_"

Kowalski grimaced. Skipper laughed.

"So how did this happen?" he asked. Rico nodded equally interested in the story. Kowalski sighed. Shimmy would probably tell them if he didn't. He took a deep breath and retold his unfortunate story once more.

Skipper, Rico, and Shimmy didn't stop laughing for quite a while. At first Kowalski felt indignant but than considered what had happened and joined in.

"Why didn't your parents come with you on the boat?" asked Skipper once he regained his breath.

Kowalski had been putting off this conversation. It was the main reason that he hadn't asked neither Rico or Skipper where they were from as curious as he was. This would not be easy.

"They were eaten by a killer whale just as I was getting on the ship." He said quietly. All three of his companions on the helicopter became silent. The only sound heard was the spinning blades of the helicopter.

Surprisingly, it was Rico who broke the silence.

"Whale." He said in his squeaky voice shuddering. He ran his flipper down the scar on the side of his beak. Kowalski looked up interested.

"A whale got you that scar Rico?"

Rico nodded.

"How?" said Skipper, Shimmy, and Kowalski in unison. Apparently Rico had told no one of this till now.

Rico regurgitated a firecracker.

"Ka-boom" he said throwing his flippers up in the air.

"You were lighting firecrackers?" asked Skipper. Rico nodded his head.

He regurgitates a whale squeak toy and a penguin plastic doll. He places the firecracker on the penguin doll's flipper. He whale toy he waves around underneath the penguin simulating it swimming. The firecracker goes off in the penguin doll's hand with a small 'pop'. At the sound of the firecracker Rico suddenly makes the whale toy jump up in front of the penguin doll. Rico moves the penguin doll away from the whale toy but the flipper that held the whale toy moved faster. The whale scoops up the penguin toy with its mouth and throws it into the air. With perfect precision Rico flips the whale around so that it's tail hits the Penguin doll on the face right as it comes down. Kowalski's eyes follow the trajectory of the small penguin doll as it falls and hits the helicopter's floor with a soft 'thud'. Rico looks down at doll sadly.

"How old were you?" asks Skipper softly.

"Week" croaks Rico his fluffy feathered face heartbreakingly sad.

"Wasn't there anyone to help you?" asks Shimmy

Rico shakes his head.

"Where were your parents at the time?" asks Kowalski

Rico shrugs his shoulders.

"Friends? Family? Someone from the flock?" listed Skipper troubled.

Rico shakes his head.

Kowalski realizes that if it hadn't been for his own parents intervening he would probably have ended up like Rico, or worse. Kowalski pats Rico's shoulder softly in comfort. Rico looks up at him and smiles.

"You know what we need right now Rico?" he asks.

"Ka-boom?" says Rico hopefully.

"Yes Rico," answers Skipper " ka-boom"

Shimmy doesn't even object to them setting off a big firecracker inside a helicopter.

* * *

"We're almost there children" calls Shimmy from the front seat. Skipper huffs undignified.

"Children!" he demands "We're an elite military force that could cream you to a whip. We may look young, but I can assure you, we don't kid around."

Shimmy chuckled.

"Yeah? Well how old are you than?" he asks Skipper

_[These are NOT real ages in human or penguin years. More of an approximation at the time]_

Skipper puffs his chest out.

"I'm three years old."

"I'm almost three months old." Replies Kowalski.

"And Rico's almost 7 months old" fills in Skipper.

Shimmy holds his flippers up in fake surrender.

"Wow, I take it back dudes. You're chuck full of manlitude!" He laughs at Skipper's furious look. The helicopter makes a dangerous sideways turn, almost throwing them off course.

"Hold on to the wheel man!" exclaimed Skipper.

"Relax my macho friend," replied Shimmy "I've got it all under control"

"Speaking of control" jumped in Kowalski trying to stop Skipper from doing anything rash "How do you drive a helicopter?"

_[To avoid any of you falling into a coma from boredom or brain damage I'll just say that somehow Kowalski understood it all, Shimmy was actually a good teacher, and Rico and Skipper fell asleep.]_

"Fascinating!" said Kowalski taking note of everything Shimmy said along with some surprisingly good sketches.

"It's actually a pretty nice view from up here once you get to it." Answered Shimmy. Kowalski realized that in the entire trip neither of them had looked out the window yet. He sneaks a peek out and gasps. They were on top of the ocean! He could see the small white crests of the waves below them. All around there was the wide blue of it with no apparent end. Kowalski was surprised that there were no icebergs around.

"How fast are we flying?" Kowalski asked

"'Bout 130-150 mph" replied Shimmy "We should be there in about a half hour. You might wanna wake your buddies up so that they can get ready to unload."

Kowalski nods and shakes Skipper. Skipper looks around startled.

"Evacuate man! Evacuate!" he exclaims shaking Kowalski frantically.

Kowalski slaps him to get him to see reason.

"Skipper, calm down, everything's fine!" He tells him.

Skipper takes another look around and laughs sheepishly.

"Just testing you." he said. Now that his face didn't have the fluffy gray down it was easy to tell that he was blushing.

"Right." Said Kowalski raising an eyebrow. "We have to get ready, we're about to land."

Skipper nods and wakes up Rico. His eyelids were half-closed and he gave a huge yawn, showing the uvula at the back of his beak.

"Come on Rico, you need to be awake" said Skipper " we can't go if you're still fluttering your eyelids." Rico chuckled leaving his tongue lolling out on the side. He rubbed his eyes and looked alertly at Skipper. Once Skipper was sure that Rico wouldn't try to fall asleep again he began to hand out orders.

"Kowalski, take inventory, Rico, find me a nice weapon for the occasion, something…dangerous." He looks at Shimmy " you do know how to land don't you?"

"Nope." Says Shimmy "So do yourselves a favor and put on your seatbelts."

Put on their seatbelts they did, and they stayed with them out for the rest of the ride. If the landing was as bad as the liftoff than they didn't want to risk taking them off.

The landing was actually not like the lift-off. It was worse. Shimmy took the helicopter down in a very un-smooth way that could be compared to the sensation one gets when riding a roller coaster. Skipper and Kowalski screamed the whole way while Rico raised his flippers up in the air giggling excitedly. The helicopter landed with a loud smash that shook the penguins down to their spines. The spinning of the blades slowed down till they stopped. The three penguins sat waiting for Shimmy to say something.

"Hotdog! I landed this one even better than that speedboat back in Cancun" laughed Shimmy throwing his hands off the controls.

Skipper gave him and incredulous look.

"Broom!" said Rico happily.

Kowalski took note of the amount of damage that he estimated had been done to the helicopter so far.

"If I calculated right," he began "than this plane will not be suitable for flight unless it is taken to a vehicle expert." Shimmy snorted.

"Nonsense, this copter is just fine, and if it does need fixing than you've got an expert right here." He said pointing at himself.

"Let me guess," said Skipper annoyed "you've never fixed a helicopter but yet you still have total confidence that you'll get this one good as new."

"Yup." Said Shimmy confidently. Skipper smacked his forehead.

"I recommend that we hurry" jumped in Kowalski "we do have a plane to catch in five minutes and we still need to find it."

"Look around you" said Shimmy "we're in a landing floor, your plane is the one all the way across there."

The young penguins looked to where he was pointing.

"You mean the one taking off?" asked Skipper

"That's the one." replied Shimmy.

* * *

"Blast! What are we going to do" said Skipper worried.

Kowalski cleared his throat.

"I've come up with some options" he said self-conscious.

Skipper looks at him. He knew that Kowalski always worked out good action plans on the spot, but he had never before asked him for help. Than again, what could go wrong if he did hear him out? It wasn't like he had any idea what to do anyway.

"Lay it on me, but be quick."

Kowalski scribbles speedily on his clipboard.

"I say we have Rico cough up a harpoon than we can blast ourselves into the plane. Once on it we cut a hole into it to get inside." He shows Skipper a surprisingly detailed drawing for the amount of time it had taken him to draw it. Skipper considers this.

"Too many cameras around. Got another one?"

Kowalski draws something again.

"We could hijack another plane." Skipper smiles.

"Man, commence operation 'Catching Flight'."

Looking for a plane was easy. After all this was an airport. What wasn't easy was getting to it. They were all either taking off or landing and neither of the four penguins fancied being run over by a rolling plane at the time. Luckily Rico spotted a plane that was just loading up. They snuck over to it careful of not being spotted and managed to make it to the luggage. Skipper took a look out position for any humans. Once they went to unload the luggage cart he signaled for the others to get in. They back-flipped up the stairs, not being able to climb them easily.

The plane had no passengers yet; this was a plus to all except for Rico who had been looking forward to setting of a stink bomb to get them to file out. They slid to the pilot's cabin. Inside they found the pilot and co-pilot. They had been expecting this, back at the academy in Combat Training they had been taught that a swift hit to the back of the neck could knock a human unconscious. Skipper signaled to Rico and Kowalski who took them down. Skipper dragged them out and left them lying on the stairs. When he came back he found Shimmy already at the wheel with Kowalski acting as his co-pilot. Shimmy was looking over the controls while Kowalski wrote on his clipboard.

"Hurry up men!" exclaimed Skipper "We don't have all day."

Shimmy took one last look at the controls and Kowalski finished writing. They looked at each other and nodded.

"We have no idea how this works." They tell Skipper in unison.

Rico coughs up a manual and hands it to Shimmy.

"I can't read, " he says throwing the book in the air. The book hit some knobs on the roof and punches in some buttons. The plane begins to move forward. Kowalski takes a look at the buttons that the book had pressed; they were lit up so he could spot them easily. He pressed the same thing on his side of the controls. The plane picks up speed.

"Now, this I can handle" says Shimmy grabbing hold of the steering wheel. He pulls on it and the plane rises with the movement. Skipper holds on to the seats watching Rico slide past him.

"Did you close the door Skipper?" yells Shimmy back at him.

Skipper smacks himself and goes back to close the door. Surprisingly he finds it already closed.

"Must have been the wind" he mutters to himself. He goes back to the cabin. Shimmy and Kowalski are fighting over some odd gadget.

" We can talk so we might be able to imitate human sounds if we try" says Kowalski forcefully.

"Listen here buddy, I know for a fact that if we answer they'll just think it's some other human faking. We have to unplug this so that they can't hear us." Replies Shimmy equally vigorous.

From the gadget you could hear a voice saying "Hello? Hello? Captain Copper do you read me?"

Skipper took the gadget away from both of them slapping them in turn.

"We're not answering and we're not unplugging it." He said looking at both of them evenly "we'll just have to be quiet so they don't hear us. With this we can hear what _they're_ doing and at this time it's vital to know what the enemy is doing. Capish?"

Kowalski and Shimmy look at each other still surprised that Skipper would dare slap them. Kowalski had slapped Skipper before but he had needed it back than. Shimmy couldn't believe that a younger penguin would hit him as if _he_ were the older one.

"I said **Capish**?" said Skipper more vehemently. Kowalski and Shimmy grudgingly and turn back to the controls. Skipper turns to Rico.

"Keep an ear out for anything suspicious." He says handing him the gadget. Rico nods and pulls his ear with a comically stern face.

Skipper takes a look out the window. The ground already looked far away.

"Outstanding job gentlemen" he says "Bermuda Triangle, say your prayers."

They high-five each other in celebration.

* * *

The plane trip goes uneventful. The plane was stocked with food and full of space. Shimmy found the autopilot button so he and Kowalski were able to take breaks. Kowalski approximated that if everything went right than they would get to the Bermuda Triangle in about 15 hours.

Rico hadn't reported any suspicious activity from the humans yet so they assumed that perhaps they were in the clear.

Skipper took the time to go over the ship and make sure that there were no intruders as there had been some strange random noises that sounded to him all too much of someone scurrying from place to place. After a through search of the ship he figured that perhaps it was just normal airplane noises.

Rico spent his time listening occasionally to the gadget, which Shimmy told them were called "earphones", and once in a while sparked a firecracker.

Shimmy found that there was a T.V. to watch and immediately set to watching it. Mostly he had to put in movies, but there were some good ones. His favorite was _The Fast and the Furious, _which he watched about 3 times. Kowalski also found the T.V. fascinating, though in a different way. He took notes of human behavior from the movies that Shimmy put on and even took a look inside it to find out how it worked. Once Rico and Skipper found the T.V. they also stayed glued to it, forgetting their duties for a while.

They were only a few hours away from getting to the Bermuda Triangle when Skipper reminded Rico to check on the earphones. Rico got up form the T.V. with a sight, as this was his favorite part. He picked up the earphones, which he had previously left lying carelessly on the ground, and listened to what was going on on the other side.

"Repeat, we have sent two army air ships to get you. You must either land the airplane at the nearest airport or we will use lethal force."

Rico smiled. So they would finally get to see some explosives. Than he realized that it would be _them_ exploding. He rushed to Skipper and handed him the headphones.

"What is it Rico?" asked Skipper turning hesitantly away form the T.V.

Rico spread his wings out imitating airplane noises, than he held his flippers out as if holding a machine gun.

"Ka-boom!" he said pretending to be an airplane spinning out of control.

"Is that supposed to be us?" asked Kowalski

Rico nodded his head.

"The enemy's snapped!" said Skipper "Get to your stations men. Go! Go! Go!"

Shimmy and Kowalski jump to get back to the cabin. Skipper meanwhile looks for a window.

"Rico, we need a long–range shooter with enough force to knock them off their toes."

Rico coughs up a very dangerous-looking gun that seemed WAY bigger than him.

"Nice" said Skipper smiling smugly "They won't stand a chance."

"Kowalski!" he calls entering the cabin "Leave the controls to Shimmy, right now I need you covering the left flank." Kowalski nods and gets another shooter from Rico.

"Keep and eye out man," says Skipper "we don't know when or where they're showing up from."

The penguins wait for a few intensive moments alert for anything on the horizon. After 15 minutes like this Rico laughs pointing. Skipper rushes to him.

"Where is it?" he asks. Rico points out to him a small dot on the sky. Skipper squints to see it.

"That's a lot smaller than I expected " he says confused "Wait…that's not a plane…that's a missile!"

Kowalski looks at it and writes something down on his clipboard.

"The missile will make contact in less than a minute Skipper." He says.

"Not on my watch" replies Skipper "Shimmy, can you maneuver this plane as well as that helicopter?"

"I can make this thing do cartwheels if you want" calls Shimmy

"I'll take your word for it. Kowalski, begin countdown. Shimmy, flip this thing on my mark." Says Skipper.

"33, 32, 31, 30…" begins Kowalski

"Wait for it…" says Skipper narrowing his eyes.

"27,26,25…"

Shimmy holds on tightly to the controls. Rico holds the gun up aiming for the missile.

" 10,9,8,7…"

Skipper raises his wing into the air.

"5,4,3…"

"NOW!" says Skipper bringing his flipper down with a snap. Shimmy turns the controls sharply. Kowalski, Rico, and Skipper fall violently against the side of the plane as it makes flip in midair. The plane keeps turning out of control. Shimmy pulls against the controls as hard as he can trying to regain balance. A loud ripping sound can be heard somewhere beneath the plane. Skipper hangs on to a seat on the plane. Kowalski makes a wild grab for his clipboard while trying to hold on to the side of the wall. Rico laughs excitedly as he flies through the air. Shimmy manages to hold the wheel still and the plane comes to a violent stop. Rico, Skipper, and Kowalski fall to the floor with a painful 'smack'.

"Everyone all right?" calls Skipper standing up. He receives a series of groans form the others as a confirmation.

"I will never forget to put on my seatbelt ever again." Declares Kowalski brushing some popcorn off of his fluffy gray feathers.

Rico laughs. He stands to take a look out the window.

"Oh-oh" he says.

Skipper goes to take a look.

"Incoming!" he yells diving down to the floor.

Kowalski sees the second missile coming to them. He runs to the cabin and pushes Shimmy away from the controls. He grabs them and turns them vigorously to the right. Once more, the penguins go tumbling on the plane as it spins violently through the air. The plane dodges the missile on time. Kowalski struggles to hold on the controls while the plane flies upside down. Shimmy screams on his ear. Kowalski feels like slapping him but instead takes a good grip on the wheel and pulls. Another dangerous turn and the plane is back the right way up.

All four sit for a minute still in shock. Shimmy looks at Kowalski.

"That…was…AWESOME!" He jumps off of his chair laughing. Rico also begins to laugh jumping around. Skipper looks at Kowalski questioningly. They hold each other's gaze for a minute before they too burst out laughing.

* * *

"How bad are we Kowalski?"

"A slight scratch on the bottom of the plane and a drastic loss in altitude, but we should be fine if we take it easy for the rest of the ride. However, this plane will be no good to get us back."

Skipper nods. He had expected this much.

"Rico, any more missiles coming?" Rico shakes his head.

"Shimmy, what's the word on the headphones?"

"They broke." Replies Shimmy holding up what remained of them.

"Oh, well. We don't need them anyway. They probably assumed that we're dead after those missiles."

Skipper turns back to Kowalski.

"How much longer till we get there?"

Kowalski scribbles quickly on his clipboard.

"According to my calculations, we are flying right over the Bermuda Triangle."

"So where do we land than?" asks Skipper

Kowalski turns to Rico.

"Rico, the documents please." Rico regurgitates them and hands them to him. Kowalski looks through them. He searches through the papers a second time his brow line coming together.

"Well…?" says Skipper confused that Kowalski hadn't answered yet.

"It doesn't say." Replies Kowalski " Apparently we have to wait for the storm."

"What storm?" asks Skipper suspiciously.

"Guys," calls Shimmy from the cabin "I think you've better come see this."

The three penguins go over to see what Shimmy sounded so preoccupied about.

"What is it Shimmy?" asks Skipper. Shimmy points silently to the window. From it they could see a gigantic gray storm cloud moving towards them at a surprisingly fast pace. It swirled into a cave-like form from which they could see lighting flashing on the inside.

"Any way you can maneuver us out of this one Shimmy?" asks Skipper nervously.

"None. Kowalski?"

Kowalski writes something down on his clipboard. Skipper, Rico, and Shimmy look at him hopefully.

"The way I see it we have two options; we stay here and most likely the plane will crash with us in it or we fly this airplane as low as possible, put it on autopilot, and jump into the ocean where we will most likely drown."

"What are the chances of survival?" asks Skipper. Kowalski looks at his clipboard.

"2.3%"

"It's been an honor working with you men" says Skipper giving them a military salute. They look at him and salute him back at the same time. Skipper looks at Shimmy.

"Shimmy, fly this plane down as low as you can."

* * *

Will they survive or will i have to write a story about their adventures from heaven? :)

Thanxs to Viva1La1Bam for suggeting Rico's Story! Please review on how i did~i can't fix what sucks if i don't know what it is ;)


	6. Experimenting

Sorry it took so long for me to publish this and not answering your reviews, there was a mishap with my computer after a storm hit, now i'm back though and worked extra hard to get this completed. :)

* * *

Ch 6 Experiencing

Shimmy gave Skipper a determined look.

"I take back all I said about you guys," he says "You've got more courage than any adult I've met." With that he placed both flippers firmly on the controls and angled them so that the plane would begin its descend.

The storm drew closer somehow beginning to pull them in. Shimmy fights against the pull drawing the plane lower. He takes it as far as possible, but he could still tell that it was a tad too high.

"If we survive the impact we might be able to swim to shore somewhere." Says Kowalski giving his clipboard for Rico to swallow.

"Put this thing on autopilot" commands Skipper. Shimmy presses the green button for autopilot and takes off his seat belt taking a deep breath.

"You all ready for this?"

All three of the penguins look at each other and nod. Skipper goes to open the door. He has to hold on to the edge of the wall to keep the wind from knocking him off balance. A loud gushing sound comes form the door and things are knocked over from the force of the wind. Skipper takes a look down at the crushing waves below him.

"Hold on to each other man, and whatever you do DO NOT let go. Understand?" he yells over the sound of the wind. The others nod and hold on to each other's flippers.

"We jump on three" calls Skipper holding on to Shimmy "One, Two, Three!"

They jump off of the plane. The wind burns their eyes as they go down. Once they hit the water the icy cold of it envelops them. It had been at least 25 feet distance so hitting the stinging water was not pain-less. They hold on tighter to each other's flippers despite the hit, and kick against the current trying to get back to the surface. The swirling currents keeps flipping them and pulling them down, but they don't give up. They kick until they hit the surface gasping for air. The waves slap them and make them choke as they try to breathe but they don't care, they were still alive!

Kowalski looks around him. The plane was still going. Above him, he could see the storm chasing after it, a definetly uncommon sight.

"Everyone still here?" calls Skipper. Once he was sure of that he looked at Kowalski.

"Kowalski, got any options?" he asks. Kowalski considers asking Rico for his clipboard but he knows that that won't do him any good. He takes a look around him. As far as he saw, the storm was drawing away, which meant that the waters would probably cease their turbulence in a few moments. If the lighting didn't hit somewhere near them than they might not be electrocuted; yet the strange behavior of the storm was what go to him. A storm would never follow a plane like that. Commander South had sent them to find out why airplanes disappeared and he had detailed on the instructions to wait for the storm so he must have realized that there was something going on. If the planes disappeared do to a storm that seemed to have a mind of it's own than there had to be a place where the planes ended up, and there was a possibility that that would be land. Kowalski sights. If they wanted to find land, than they would have to follow the storm.

"We need a raft of some sort" says Kowalski. Rico coughs up a square package. With a quick pull of a string the square box opens into a small floating raft. It would be a bit crowded for all 4 of them but it was all they had at the moment.

"Everyone on board" commands Skipper. They all rush to grab on to the raft before the current pulls them away. Once on it they sit shaking their feathers trying to get rid of the water on it. There wasn't much space so Shimmy ended up having to sit on the edge of the raft. The wind still shook the waters threatening to flip them over. Overall it wasn't a very comfortable situation.

"So what do you have in mind Kowalski?" asks Skipper once he had gotten as much water off of him as possible.

"Well" begins Kowalski "the storm seems to be set on getting the plane. We came here to find out how the planes disappear and now we know. In order to find out where it comes from we have to follow the storm to find out where it is. Hopefully we'll find land there or somewhere along the way."

Skipper nods seeing the logic in this. Also seeing that it was the only choice they had.

Kowalski turns to look at the storm. The plane was nowhere in sight and the storm was drawing away. The water around them was already starting to calm down.

"We're gonna need to find a more affective way of moving if we want to catch up with that storm." he mutters.

"Rico?" asks Skipper. Rico thinks for a minute and shrugs his shoulders.

"Couldn't we make a motor out of some things that you have with you?" asks Shimmy. Kowalski looks up.

"Of course! Rico, do you have a spinning blade, a rope, an axel, a screwdriver, and some bolts?" says Kowalski. Rico nods enthusiastically and throws up all of the objects that he named into the little space that the raft had left. Kowalski instantly sets to work on the objects. This would be his first time making something on his own, but his dad had made sure that he'd always be able to put together a working machine, after all, he had taught him basic mechanics even while Kowalski was inside his shell. In a few minutes he had a working raft motor ready to work. He placed it on the edge of the raft and took a hard pull of the rope. The motor set to work almost knocking Kowalski off balance as the raft moves forward sharply.

"Great work Kowalski!" exclaimed Skipper elated.

Kowalski looked at the direction that the storm was going and adjusted the motor so that it would also go that way. In the little raft with only a homemade motor to lead them, the four penguins set out to catch up with the storm.

* * *

The closer they got to the storm the less gentle the waters got. Kowalski had to draw back a few times so that he wouldn't lead them into the storm which was where the waters would definetly overturn them. It took a few hours before they finally saw anything besides the storm. Kowalski had approximated that it was only about 3:30 in the afternoon but the dark clouds and the occasional downpour didn't give them much light. It was when the storm suddenly disappeared that they finally saw what lay ahead of them.

Before them stood a large island that seemed to hold an entire colony. There wasn't much for them to do but gape at this unexpected discovery.

"Kowalski, analysis" said Skipper, feeling that if Kowalski was good at handing out options than perhaps he could also provide an analysis.

"We seem to be witnessing the existence of what I first believed to be a mythological region; Atlantis."

"Think they'll teach me to drive one of them flying cars?" asked Shimmy

* * *

The raft pulled up on shore. The still-in-shock penguins climbed out a bit stiff from having sat in the same position for so long. They pulled the raft out of the water making sure that no one was around to see them. To keep the raft from being seen they hid it in the sand dunes that lay a bit farther back. Once they were sure that it wasn't visible they turned to survey the landscape.

They were very obviously on a beach. Beyond the beach, they could see a whole city. It had large skyscrapers that seemed to be reaching halfway to the sky. There were no flying ships to Shimmy's disappointment, nut there were a lot of flying _animals._ There seemed to be no end to the variety of animals in the area, raging from snakes to platypuses. It seemed like a pretty advanced civilization as far as they could see.

"Let's move, the faster we get out of here, the better off we'll be" said Skipper leading the way to the city. The others followed him walking a bit hesitantly to be going into such a place. Rico watched in fascination at the distant figure of a flying dog. Kowalski considered options.

"I believe that they are using some-sort of jet-pack." He whispered to Rico who spread his wings out before him and pretended to fly along the beach.

"I've gotta get me one of those" said Shimmy. Kowalski nodded; it would be amazing to find out how they worked and build one himself.

They pushed aside ferns and climbed over sand dunes till they got to firm land. Beneath them lay what definetly wasn't concrete, but a sort of material with the same structure of soft polished rocks. A flamingo came around the corner of a building so they quickly dived behind an adjacent building.

"So what do ya'll plan on doing than?" asked Shimmy once the flamingo was out of sight.

"Kowalski, options." Muttered Skipper

"Rico, my clipboard please." Says Kowalski. Rico spits out the clipboard and Kowalski catches it in midair. He quickly writes down a few observations and draws a conclusion from them.

"Bearing in mind that the storm disappeared over this island I believe that whatever it is doing must be of no secret to the natives. I think that if we play right in the camouflage we might be able to get one of them to tell us what they know."

"I coincide." Replied Skipper "now what seems to be something that we would need in order to catch their drift?"

"Well, we need one of those jet packs." Said Shimmy pointing, barely able to hide his smile.

"Agreed." Said Skipper "Commence operation 'Go with the Flow'."

They tobogganed into the next building and waited for an animal to come by. Along the way came two rabbits. The penguins quickly knocked them out and took the jet-packs from them.

"Rico, leave them a tip" said Skipper hitching the pack onto him. Rico regurgitated a bushel of carrots and left them lying next to the rabbits. Skipper searched for someone else. They slid into an alley next to them where they could hear voices. Once on it they realized that there were 3 snakes talking to each other. One was a bright green, while the other two were a tricolor of red, white, and black.

"Let's move" whispered Skipper. Shimmy, Rico, and Kowalski looked at each other. Had Skipper gone mad?

"Skipper" said Kowalski looking anxious "I calculate a 33% chance that we'll get out of this one unharmed. 9% that we'll win."

"Kowalski, we can't be held back by every single contrary statistic that comes along your clipboard, we have to take a risk once in a while, like man!" says Skipper giving him a superior look.

"Actually, I kind-of agree with brain here" says Shimmy nervously "those might be poisonous vipers there, and I'd like to live to live a long life if you don't mind."

"I do mind," replies Skipper haughtily "Rico, you with me?" Rico thinks for a moment, than smiles evilly and coughs up a hammer. "Guess it's just us two than." He toboggans behind a trashcan that gets him closer to the snakes. Kowalski and Shimmy look at each other and realize that they have no choice; if Skipper had set his mind to this they couldn't talk him out of it, and they certainly couldn't let him do this alone. Kowalski was not good at fighting, and since he had been only taught the basics before they allowed him to be the military's driver, neither did Shimmy. Still, they would help out as much as they could. Wearily, they slide over to him.

"'Kay, boys, move out…now!" They jump out into the alley. The snakes turn surprised. Skipper tries to kick one of the snakes on the neck just as Rico hits out with his hammer to the other. Kowalski and Shimmy try to take on the third one. In an unexpected, and unfortunate turn of event, the penguins find themselves landing on nothing. They turn around surprised to see that the snakes were now behind them.

"Well, well, what have we here?" says the green one.

"I'd sssssay we got ourselvessss a couple of cute little chicksssss." Replies one of the tricolored ones.

"Aww, did your little attack plan not work?" says the third snake sweetly, in a high female voice.

"Listen here" begins Skipper at an attempt to sound menacing "we just want those packs of your. If you hand them over we promise to let you go." Kowalski looks at the snakes and sees that Skipper's threat had not had any effect on the snakes.

" Actually, it'ssss usss who will be doing the bargaining at the time." said the green snakes calmly.

"Yesss, and I sssssay that I want the one on the right corner." Exclaims the female. Skipper tries to hide his horror at realizing that he was already being picked as the main dish. The snakes draw in on them.

"Don't worry," says the green one " jusssst one little bite and you won't feel a thing."

"Kowalski, options." Mutters Skipper. The snakes looked more closely at Kowalski with interest in their faces. Kowalski looks around for an escape route. The snakes move closer. He hits something cold and hard as he backs up against the wall. He feels what it is with his flipper and realizes that it's a doorknob. There was no way that they would all be able to get in on time though. A flashback cruises through his mind. _His dad was showing him a book. In it, there were pictures of animals from the jungle. _

_"One of the main enemies of snakes are hawks." His dad said as he showed him the picture of a long brown snake._

"Hawk!" exclaimed Kowalski pointing. The snakes turned around alarmingly in search of the nonexistent hawk. Kowalski quickly opened the door and pushed the others in. The snakes realized that they had been tricked and quickly jumped towards them. Kowalski hurriedly slams the door on the faces with as much force as he could muster. He hears groans from the snakes as they fall to the floor. He searches for a lock on the door but there was none.

"We need something to block this door!" calls Kowalski. The others set to work looking for anything in the room that could help them. Shimmy and Skipper push a large closet against the door while Rico begins throwing up heavy things.

"I will never doubt you again Kowalski" said Skipper apologetic.

"Girls?" calls a voice from behind them. The penguins look back surprised. Coming towards them was an elderly penguin lady. With no other place to hide they dive inside the nearest place; the closet.

"Girls, I realize that this is might be a tad frightening for you but you need to get out here. Miss Finn wants to have all of you set up and we simply can't have all of you sneaking around."

The penguins look at each other. Girls?

"Boys, if we want to get out of here we'll have to blend. Look for something that might help." Whispers Skipper. They set to look for anything that might help them. Inside the closet they find necklaces, make-up, and some pink skirts. They look at each other warily.

"Desperate times." Says Skipper through a gritted beak as he pulls on a skirt.

"Girls, do I need to get you out myself?"

The very obviously boy penguins look at each other in alarm. Shimmy clears his throat.

"Just a minute, we need to put these skirt on right." He calls in a too-real-for-comfort girl voice.

"All right, I'll wait out here." Replies the penguin.

Skipper, Shimmy, Rico, and Kowalski hurry to put together a convincing disguise. Rico brushes down his Mohawk letting it hang loose on his head. Skipper and Shimmy hand over their jetpacks for him to swallow in order to put the skirts better around their waists. Kowalski puts a pink hair bow over his head. Shimmy than puts make-up on their eyes in a very expert way, and hands bracelets out to all of them telling them what matches better with them. Skipper stares at him incredulously.

"What? I have a little sister and she makes me play dress-up with her." Says Shimmy when he realizes that Skipper was staring at him.

"All right boys" says Skipper awkwardly " let's move."

They walk out of the closet uncomfortably. Now that they were out in the light they could see each other more clearly. The skirts, the skillfully placed make-up, and the jewelry all worked together in harmony making a very nice, yet very disturbing picture, if you knew what was really behind the mascara lined-lashes. They looked at each other in their girl outfits with genuinely horrified expressions. A good disguise was a crucial element for undercover agents but it was just too much when they saw that they simply looked _too_ convincing.

"Oh, my," said the elderly penguin putting her fins together "Don't you all just look lovely."

The young penguins stared in dismay.

"Don't just stand there, you have a recital to do." Said the lady penguins leading them all away. The penguins finally took a good look around and realized that they were behind a stage. As they passed the curtain, bright lights flashed in their eyes. Once they got over the blinding beam they realized where they had been led. A stage filled with young girl penguins all dressed in the same pink skirts that they had were on-stage. They were all getting in place, chattering excitedly. In front of the stage lay yet another red curtain hiding them from the audience, next to which stood a slim penguin directing the girls.

"Miss Finn!" called the elder penguin "Miss Finn, I found your girls!"

Miss Finn didn't even turn around; she was too busy aligning the hair bow on a small penguin with eyes bluer than Skipper's.

"You know where to put them Mrs. Jiane." She said distractingly "hurry, we're about to start."

"Come this way girls," she said calling to Skipper, Rico, Kowalski, and Shimmy "you heard Miss Finn." They follow slowly. Perhaps they should have just let the snakes eat them.

Mrs Jiane points to a certain spot on stage and directs them to stand there. They follow her directions grudgingly, whishing to be somewhere else. Once they were all in place Jiane leaves. Skipper takes the opportunity to talk to Kowalski.

"Kowalski?" he says his long eye lashed eyes giving away how desperate he was.

"We could-"

"Be quiet now girls" calls Miss Finn clapping her fins loudly "This is what we have been readying for all along. You all look so beautiful" the boys shudder "I know that this will be our best recital yet." She moves off-stage and the curtain rises. The boys gulp.

The auditorium became quiet as the curtain rose. It was hard to tell how many penguins there were in the audience because it was cloaked in darkness, but considering the amount of flashing lights, there might have just been a full house. The music began and along with it, the young girls began to dance. Rico, Skipper, and Kowalski recognized this song. It was Land of the Swans , a song that Miss Jeannette constantly played in class for the girls to dance to. Shimmy could only remember some of it. Resignedly, they did the steps that they could recall from watching them. The moves were a bit complicated but they were able to go on without being noticed. Once in a while they would make eye contact during which they shared the indignation of this scenario blushing.

_

* * *

_

_[A look into the character's thoughts]_

Kowalski felt that he could survive this. His dad had told him once about the time that he had to pretend to be an old lady in order to break into a secret hideout. Helen had seen him while he was at the station and recognized him, which Kowalski's dad described as being "one of the most embarrassing moments in his life." If his dad could live through it, than so could he. Besides, at least he wasn't alone in this, and Skipper was really putting on a brave face.

Skipper felt that this was one of the worst situations in life. He had loathed Dance Class, feeling that it was a waste of valuable training time, and now he hated it even more because there had actually come a moment in which he required the knowledge he had gathered there. With an infuriated look on his face, he does the pirouette required in the part of the song. He didn't know whether to feel proud that he could go through something as tough as this or to feel humiliated that he had to lowers himself this low to live. Still, he knew that the others would probably give up if he did so he kept his head held high and tapped his feet to the music.

Shimmy couldn't stop thinking about what a ridicule he was making of himself. Commander South had only told him that he had to get the boys to the Bermuda Triangle. He never mentioned him needing to go along with them on their mission, let alone having to dance ballet along too. He couldn't remember what to do for a minute so he tried to imitate what the little girl in front of him was doing. His cheeks burned as he felt himself blushing in the bright stage lights.

Rico secretly liked dance class, because it was one of the few classes that didn't require thinking, or figuring out times tables, or thinking in a reasonable way. If he hadn't been wearing make-up and a pink skirt he thought that perhaps he might have been enjoying himself.

* * *

The song ended and the boys breathed out in relief. The audience clapped appreciatively in response.

"All right boys," began Skipper "let's-" A new song began cutting him off. Skipper grimaced. Another song that he knew, and hated. He got into position waiting. In this song, there was a soloist, and you didn't start dancing until the singing began. He looks around for the unlucky soul who would most likely be shaking in fright at having to sing in front of so many others. There, in the middle of the stage stood a very nervous -looking girl penguin with hair hanging down to her eyes and a barely visible scar on the side of her beak.

All that Skipper, Shimmy, and Kowalski could do was stare.

* * *

Rico opened his gloss-covered beak as the opening line of the song began. A sweet melody followed going into the audience. Rico's beak went along with all of the words in the song and the sweetest, most endearing girl voice filled the auditorium. The audience sat in awe at this prestigious little girl. Miss Finn stood up in her seat realizing that this was not her soloist, but when she heard her singing she sat down once more and let her go on.

Skipper stood incredulous forgetting to even dance along. Kowalski danced towards him and Shimmy simply walked over. They realized that the audience was too observed in Rico's divine singing to even bother looking at the dancers so they dived behind the curtain.

"I didn't know Rico could sing." said Kowalski rubbing off the makeup.

"Me either" replied Skipper " but I'm sure glad that he does."

"No wonder he never talks," said Shimmy "With that girl voice of his he would never be able to keep a serious conversation."

"How do we get Rico out of there than?" asked Shimmy rubbing off the make-up.

"We'll just have to wait for the end of the recital." Said Skipper "for now let's look for a way out." The others nod and begin to search. Kowalski knew that the door that they had come from before was of no use so instead he went to look for an exit near the backstage. There he found some things that controlled the curtain and the music. The farther in he walked, the louder the sugary singing sounded. Peeking underneath the curtain towards the stage he found a little penguin. She was holding a microphone that led to some speakers. She was too absorbed singing to take notice of him. Kowalski looked closer confused and gasped when he realized that it was _her _who was singing, not Rico. He drew nearer to question her but jumped back in surprise when he realized who she was. Kowalski ran back to Skipper who was busy examining the door they had come in from and was trying to move some of the things from it, he had already taken off his girl outfit.

"Skipper, you know that Rico can't talk" he began wishing that he had already taken his off to. Skipper looked up at him confused.

"I thought he couldn't, but after hearing this I figure he was just shy."

"Skipper" said Kowalski slowly trying to wrap his head around how illogical this was going to sound, "It's not Rico singing."

"What do you mean?" asks Skipper suspiciously.

"I mean there's a girl singing for him backstage."

Skipper is still unmoved.

"And why would a girl do something like that?"

"Because she's Annie."

"Annie?"

"The girl at the reception desk." Said Kowalski.

Skipper stares at him.

"Kowalski are you feeling alright?" he asks anxious. Kowalski groans exasperated.

"Come on." He leads the way back to the backstage. He tiptoes so that Annie won't hear him enter. Skipper follows behind him disbelieving.

"There" said Kowalski pointing, "Do you see her?" Skipper turns and gasps.

"Well put me in the freezer and call me a Popsicle. It is Annie." They stand and watch her sing in her amazing voice. The song was nearing its closing so they readied themselves to confront her.

"Hey guys-"

"Shhhh!" said Skipper turning hastily. Shimmy made a face at him.

"I found a way out." He said more quietly. Kowalski nods and beckons him over. Shimmy looks at him confused and goes to them slowly. Skipper puts his flipper to his beak and points. Shimmy looks and shakes his head. He stares at the little girl singing with her eyes closed in front of him.

"How did she get here?" He asks astonished. Skipper and Kowalski shrug their shoulders. They stand waiting for her to finish, Shimmy meanwhile taking off his costume. Kowalski realized that he too needed to take his off when Annie sings the final note and finally opens her eyes. Behind the curtain Skipper could see Rico bowing to the audience as they stand and cheer loudly. Kowalski goes to turn off the microphone.

"Hello Annie." Says Skipper. Annie turns around sheepishly.

"Hello."

"Annie," Shimmy scream-whispers "what are you doing here? You know you're not allowed on missions." Annie gives him a stubborn look and crosses her flippers.

"Well, I knew that if I didn't prove that I was helpful than I would never be allowed to train so I snuck into your plane and have been following you guys around ever since." She smiles at them smugly "And you're lucky that I did, otherwise that boy there would have been thrown off stage and back on the streets with those snakes."

"She does have a point." Says Kowalski.

"She has nothing." responded Shimmy "Mom said you couldn't come and now here you are. When we get back to the base I'm going to tell her how you snuck into the copter." Annie was unruffled.

"Go ahead, I'll tell her about the time you crashed the car into the back of the Sergeant's house."

" I'll tell her who made the hole on the wall."

"I'll tell all of your friends that you dressed up like a frilly little sissy and danced along with make up on your face." Skipper and Kowalski look at each other.

"You have no proof."

"Besides this camera with I just stole with pictures of you in it."

"You two are related?" asks Skipper.

Shimmy and Annie nod grudgingly. Now that they saw them side-by-side Kowalski and Skipper could see the resemblance in the shape of their beaks and the brown of their eyes.

"We'll save the sibling feuds till later, right now we need to get Rico off of the stage." Said Skipper pointing at Rico who was now catching flowers that the audience threw at him.

"Well the song is over…" said Annie

"So all we have to do is close the curtain." Finished Kowalski.

They look at each other in surprise. Skipper nods and goes to press some buttons. The lights on stage go out. Skipper turns them on again and presses another button. Loud rock music begins playing. Kowalski pushes Skipper to the side and presses the right button.

From his standing place Kowalski could see the curtain close.

"I'll go get Rico." Says Annie as she marches towards the stage. She talks to Rico for a minute and than leads him back towards them by the flipper. Rico has some roses on the other flipper and is smiling with his tongue lolling out.

"Please don't tell me you enjoyed that." Says Kowalski disturbed. Rico looks down at the flowers and hastily throws them to the side laughing sheepishly. Annie giggles. The girls on stage murmur amongst themselves confused at the proceedings. The penguins hear some voices coming towards them.

"This is just not part of it. Who's in charge of the curtains?" It was Miss Finn sounding very mad. "Once I find out-" The penguins don't wait to hear what she had in store, they dash out of the backstage as fast, and quietly as they can.

"Shimmy, where's that exit?" whispers Skipper as they run.

"This way" replies Shimmy turning to the right behind the second curtain. In front of them was another door. Shimmy opens it and runs outside. The others follow, blinking in the sight before them. Annie, the last to enter, smacks Shimmy over the head.

"Good job, how do we get out of this one?" she says

"Well sheesh" says Shimmy rubbing his head "I said I found an exit, not that I knew where it led to. The others stood silently watching the discussion. There wasn't really much they could watch, as the only thing in sight was walls. Walls on every single side with no way out.

"Maybe we should just go back to the auditorium, what's the worst that a dance instructor can do to us?" says Skipper looking around. Annie tries to open the door.

"Of course." She mutters shaking the handle in hopes of turning it.

"Kowalski, what's your percentage on us climbing these walls?" asks Skipper.

Kowalski looks up. This building was actually short compared to the other ones, only about 30 feet tall. He takes his clipboard from Rico.

" Getting out 22%, getting out alive 12%."

"I hate math." Mutters Shimmy.

* * *

itold you the dance lessons would come in handy!i couldn't help myself, i had to put this part in, i promise that this isn't a suggestion to them being gay, they're still straight :) Please review!

* * *

this is completly unrelated to my story, but i feel the need to post it. As a new member of the 'just a few good penguins ' community i have been able to post some of the best stories that i have read into it. If you want to know whether your story is in it than you can go check it out! REMEMBER!!! that your story not being there does not imply that your story is bad as there are quite a few stories that i have not read and some that are already in the other POM community. Keep writting, and check the community once in a while as you might find your story in it! ;)


	7. Surviving First Half

This chapter will have to be cut into two parts as i still can't figure out a Kowalski worth plan of solving this little mishap. It might take me some before i come up with it but i promise to try. ;) Thank-you all so much for the reviews and adds! i heart you guys! anywho, enjoy

* * *

Ch7. Surviving sec 1

"You do realize that we don't have to climb the walls, don't you?" asks Annie exasperated. Shimmy glares at her,

"So than what-"

"Could they be in there?"

The penguins could hear Miss Finn talking inside.

"I doubt someone would go in there" replies another voice that they recognize as Mrs Jiane "There's no way out of there and that door seems to always be jammed. I doubt whether they would have even been able to open it."

The penguins hold their breath hoping that Miss Finn would listen to Mrs Jiane.

"Wait, there they are" exclaims Miss Finn. The penguins look at each other alarmed.

"What have you naughty girls been doing?" asks Mrs Jiane "and Coral! You were supposed to do that solo! As for the rest of you, what made you close that curtain?"

"We didn't do it!" they could gear several voices claim. Inside Skipper smiles sheepishly realizing the trouble that he had gotten these girls in.

"I saw some of you running this way, don't try to make up stories." Responds Miss Finn firmly.

"I wasn't us, really. Coral was scared of doing the solo so she hid here and we didn't want to leave her by herself so we stayed, but we swear it wasn't us who messed with the controls" answers another voice they didn't recognize.

"Yeah" cut another one in "it was those boys."

"Quick Annie! What was that idea of your?" whispers Shimmy

"The jet-packs." she whispers back.

The boys look at each other. It was obvious that they were kicking each other internally for not thinking of this before.

"Those boys that kept going over the stage." Said another voice inside.

"Rico!" commands Skipper. Rico gives him the two packs. Skipper puts one on and hands the other to Kowalski. Kowalski looks at the square bag in front of him. There were a few buttons on its side; one green and one red. Kowalski put it on and pressed the green button. He felt himself leaving the ground. Next to him he saw Skipper also rising. Kowalski tries to maneuver his body to the top. As if reading his thoughts, the pack takes him up. Skipper imitates his movements and follows him.

"There's no boys here" they could hear Mrs Jiane reply, "this is an all girl school"

Skipper rushes to reach the top of the wall. His flipper touches the edge and he hangs on to it.

"Hurry Kowalski!" he calls down.

"Kowalski stretches his flippers out and grabs the wall.

"Yes there are," says one of the girls "they're in there."

Skipper helps Kowalski get on the roof. Once there they take the packs off.

"Catch!" whispers Skipper down to the others as he throws the packs down. Shimmy and Rico catch one each. They hurry to put them on as they hear the teachers trying to open the door.

"Anyone in there?" calls Miss Finn angrily.

Shimmy holds on to Annie and together they begin to go up. Rico is already halfway there. Skipper and Kowalski cheer them on quietly.

"What's going on Miss Finn?" they hear a male voice ask.

"Some vandals messed up our play and are now hiding in there." Responds Mrs Jiane.

"Step aside." Responds the guy. They hear loud pounding against the door as the man tries to open the door.

Rico climbs up to the roof. Kowalski helps him up while Skipper calls to Shimmy.

"Come on man! Hurry up!" Shimmy holds out Annie for Skipper to grab. Below them the door opens with a snap. Shimmy reaches the top and begins to climb on. Miss Finn and the others look around for them. Skipper and Rico hoist Shimmy up. Coral looks up for any sign of them but she sees nothing but the blue sky.

"So what boys were you speaking of?" asks Miss Finn sternly. The girls look at each other.

"We can't just let them get in trouble because of us." Says Skipper. In a sudden act of heroism, and stupidity, he looks over the edge.

"Hey! Here I am!" he yells down at the penguins below. They look up in surprise.

"See!" exclaim the little girls pointing up at him.

"Somebody get that boy!" calls Miss Finn.

Skipper gets off of the edge of the building and begins to run. The others follow him. They climb over the building next to them, which was only a few feet taller. Once they get to the end of that building they look down. The ground seemed very far away. There weren't enough packs to get all of them down at the same time. Shimmy glares at Skipper.

"The next time you try to be noble I'll push you off the roof myself."

"I couldn't let them get in trouble," growled Skipper looking down "it's not in my nature."

"Well maybe your nature is a total disaster." Snapped Shimmy "look what you got us into."

"Yeah? Well-" Skipper suddenly falls. The others stare at him lying on the roof.

"What-" Shimmy also falls. Kowalski, Annie, and Rico turn. One of the snakes from before was there.

"Oh, look, they got usss more appetizerssss." Says the female one. They hear something behind them. Kowalski and Rico barely even have time to turn before they too are knocked out. Annie looks at them than up at the snakes.

"All right, I give. But you better not hit me or I'll hit back." She grumbles holding up her flippers. The snakes laugh as they load her and the others into a cage.

* * *

Kowalski opened his eyes. He blinked trying to bring things in to focus but there was something silver in front of him. As he got up he realized that it was bars. Bars from a cage.

"Bout time."

Kowalski looks beside him and sees Annie leaning against the cage with her flippers crossed.

"I've been waiting for you two to wake up. Congratulations, you're the first one." Kowalski realizes that Rico still hadn't woken up. He walks to him and shakes him. Rico gives him a very confused look.

"I don't know where we are either." Said Kowalski interpreting his facial expression.

"Any observations that you would like to report Annie?" asked Kowalski

"We're stuck on a cage, Skipper and Shimmy got taken to another room, the lock is flipper-print sensible, and you're still in a girl skirt."

Kowalski looks down, and true enough he still had the pink garment on.

"Wait- you said that skipper and Shimmy got taken to another room?" he asks suddenly "Why?"

Annie shrugs her shoulders.

"Either way we need to find out how to get out of here." She replies. Kowalski looks around him. He didn't recognize the room that he was in. There was no one else besides themselves in it. It seemed like this was just somebody's parlor, there wasn't much to see. It was also a very small room, although it seemed like a pretty spacey place compared to the cage they were in.

"Have you tried getting out?" he asks Annie. Annie nods.

"Yup, and it was a complete failure. There seems to be no technological way of getting out of here." Kowalski thinks about that.

"Than I guess technological is out and Rico is in." he beckons to Rico who happily coughs up a stick of dynamite. Rico lights and throws it out of the cage. They duck down as it blows up, ripping the room and part of the cage apart. Annie looks up giving them a 'gee-you-boys-really-are-crazy' look. The room was ruined, the furniture scattered and broken, but the side of the cage had been blown away. They file out of it searching for any security guards that might come in case they had heard the explosion. Sure enough, soon they could hear footsteps coming. Kowalski takes his clipboard searching around the room for options. In the top corner lay an air vent whose lid had been blown away, it would have to do.

"This way" he calls to the others climbing into an overturned table and jumping into it. The others crawl into the vent hurriedly just as the door opens behind them.

"They got away." They hear someone say

"Well, look for them!" snaps another one.

The penguins crawl more rapidly; they had to get away from there as fast as possible. An intersection comes up making Kowalski stop. Where to go? He takes a few seconds to scribble on his clipboard.

"Rico, you and Annie take the right and I'll take the left. Try to find the place where Skipper and Shimmy are hidden. Do you still have those radios you stole form class?" Rico nods coughing them up "once you find something contact me with them."

They nod and follow his instructions. After a few minutes of crawling Kowalski sees a light ahead. He can hear some voices coming through the vent that he instantly recognized.

"I'm telling you I'm Kowalski!" It was Skipper.

"I'm telling you you're lying." Replies another voice calmly. "So, tell me where he is or else." Kowalski speeds up. This could not be good. He pages Rico and Annie

"I think I found them." He whispers into the radio.

"We'll be right there." responds Annie

"If I'm not Kowalski than who is?" grumbles Skipper "Shimmy, and I are the only boys in this team." Kowalski realized what Skipper was doing. Since he and Rico were still in their girl costumes he was trying to keep them safe by keeping with the disguise.

"True…" mutters the other voice "but I have a feeling that there's something missing here. I was informed that he was with you… Snakes!" Kowalski gets to the opening. Through it he could see a big pool. Leaning on its edge lay a dolphin, next to who he saw Skipper and Shimmy inside a cage. A door on the right opened and in came the three snakes that they had met in the alley. This time they didn't seem so confident, in fact they seemed to be _afraid_.

"Yes?" asked one of the snakes, the one who was tricolor. The dolphin seemed irritated by his question.

"You told me that you found the boy with them. This one here claims to be him but he looks nothing like his parents. Where is he?"

"Well" begins one of the snakes nervously "We heard one of them say his name, and than the one came up with a plan so they –err-got away."

"So than, where is he now?" asks the dolphin impatiently

"Well…he…"

A lion and a seal burst in.

"The girls got away!" cries the seal. The dolphin seems to not have heard them. In a calm way, that somehow made everybody hold their breath, the dolphin swam to the corner of the pool. There he pressed some buttons that made beeping noises in succession. In an unexpected show of technology, the dolphin rose and swam through the air towards the seal. The seal backed away nervously.

"Three small defenseless penguin chicks." Growls the dolphin getting nearer "I tell you to watch over them and they get away? What does that tell about you?"

The seal stands paralyzed.

Kowalski hears someone coming up behind him. Upon turning he sees Annie coming his way with Rico following.

"Where are they?" whispers Annie. Kowalski points towards the small cage behind the dolphin. Annie watches in awe at the sight. Rico looks over her head also visibly worried.

"What's your plan?" asks Annie nervously. Kowalski realizes that he had been too busy watching and had forgotten to make an escape plan. He takes out his clipboard and begins to write furiously on it. As far as he saw, the leader was the dolphin, who seemed very intent on getting to him. The only reason that he could figure for any dolphin wanting him was…but the chances of that were a microscopic .16%! There was no way that that was Dr. Blowhole!

"Dr. Blowhole, I assure you, it was all an under expectation of their capabilities" pleads the lion coming to the seals defense. Kowalski smacks his forehead. Dr. Blowhole seems to stop to consider.

"You're right, I'm overreacting." He says nonchalantly "after all, it wouldn't really help to get rid of you for now. Go find them, but let me just tell you, I'm not very patient." The lion and the seal rush to search for 'the girls'.

"Now," says Dr. Blowhole turning back to Skipper and Shimmy "second, and last chance to tell me where Kowalski or the blueprints are. Care to answer?"

"I. Am. Kowalski," snaps Skipper. The real Kowalski racks his brain for anything at all that could help them as Annie and Rico watch in anticipation.

"All right" laughs Dr. Blowhole "let's say that you _are _Kowalski. Where are the blueprints than?"

Skipper doesn't answer.

"Well?"

Kowalski had never told them about the blueprints. He didn't know what Dr. Blowhole would do to Skipper if he didn't answer but from the scared looks that the other animals had given him he could tell that it wouldn't be pretty. He crosses out another option sharply as he thinks of another one. There had to be a way to help Skipper.

"Hurry up!" pleads Annie. Rico nods. Meanwhile, Skipper still hadn't answered. From their spot, Kowalski, Rico, and Annie could hear Shimmy whimper.

"I have no time for this." Mutters Dr. Blowhole. He goes back to the corner and presses some more buttons. A square opens up on the ground next to Skipper's cage. Kowalski stops writing for a minute to look at it. He couldn't very well tell what it was, seemed like a small room filled with water.

"We'll just let the j ellyfish deal with you than." says Dr. Blowhole quietly.

Kowalski, Annie, and Rico gasp. They didn't have to worry about being heard though, because below them Shimmy was screaming. Skipper slaps Shimmy.

"Pipe down man!" he snaps "It's already bad enough without you busting my eardrums!"

* * *

Shimmy was never the heroic one XD I promise to try hard to think of what comes next (I'll probably need some marshmallows to get the creative process going) Sorry this was so short. anywho, if you think this was good or if it totally sucked, than how about reviewing on it? ;)

* * *

To anyone who might be interested, i don't mind at all if my characters (shimmy, annie, com. south, etc.) are used in your stories. I'd be sincerly flattered ;) I've gotten some questions on it and i promise i won't mind at all }:(:) hahaha look, it's a cow!


	8. Surviving 2nd Half

Yeah! the marshmallows did their job and i was able to come up with something!

* * *

Surviving 2nd Half

Dr. Blowhole looked at Shimmy with a disgusted look on his face. He shakes his head hastily and goes to Skipper and Shimmy's cage. He begins pushing it towards the hole. Kowalski looks down at his clipboard. There were just too many things to consider and too many risks. _Well, _he thought, _either way it'll be risky so what the heck._

"Rico, Annie." Says Kowalski "Here's the plan."

* * *

Skipper had absolutely no idea on how to get out of this situation. He had no weapons, no way of breaking the bars, and to top it all, his mind had gone blank. Kowalski would have been able to think of a way out. Heck, Rico would probably have already blasted himself out of this cage. He knew that he was always better off with a team to work with. Hadn't he already learned that from all those past solo mission? Commander South had told him that he had potential for a solo worker and allowed him to try it out. Now, he was exiled from Denmark and had almost blown-up the statue of liberty. He had even met Blowhole before, though luckily he didn't recognize him now that his baby down was gone. Next to him Shimmy whimpered again, at least he had stopped screaming. Skipper had never felt so helpless. Worst of all Shimmy would also go down with him, because he couldn't think. The hole drew nearer, and he and Shimmy pressed themselves against the opposite side of the cage. The only thing that made Skipper feel better was that at least Kowalski, Rico, and Annie had gotten away.

"Skipper?" whispered Shimmy. Skipper turned to look at him. Shimmy had lost the usual smirk in his beak, and this time, instead of exuberance he could see despair in his eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Annie will make out all right?" Skipper looked at Shimmy again. He realized that it wasn't himself that he was afraid of. He was about to be shoved into a room full of jellyfish and his main worry was not himself, but his little sister.

"I know she will." Assures Skipper. Shimmy nods and turns to look at the hole in the floor. It was less than a few centimeters away and he could see small gelatinous shapes floating lazily across the dark water.

"You boys ready?" asks Dr. Blowhole giving them a smug grin.

Skipper and Shimmy turn to each other, determination in both of their faces. They salute each other standing up straight. Blowhole laughs.

"Enough of these heroics" he mutters and gives the final push of the cage. Skipper and Shimmy hold their breath as they feel the dark water slip in to the cage.

* * *

A loud explosion makes Dr. Blowhole turn around. The snakes shriek and run out of the room. Dr. Blowhole grimaces and looks back. From the dust that clouded the wall he could make out a small figure. It makes its way down and lands neatly on the floor. The dust cleared up a bit and he could see what it was. A young penguin girl in a pink dress, Dr. Blowhole laughs.

"Is this a rescue mission?" he chuckled.

"Actually," she responds, "it's more of a back channel negotiation." She holds up a bundle of papers up for him to see. Dr. Blowhole looks at them interestingly.

"And what's that supposed to be?" he asks amused.

"The reason for which you've caused so much mayhem; the blueprints."

Blowhole stares at the girl. This was not what he had expected.

"And how did you get your grubby little flippers on them may I ask?"

The girl smiles. She peels off the pink hair bow, rubs the papers against her face ridding her of the make-up, and throws the skirt away, instead taking out his clipboard. Blowhole stares in disbelief. He finally composes himself and laughs.

"Boy, you're good. You actually had me fooled. So I'm guessing that you're Kowalski eh?"

Kowalski nods

"I've got a proposal to make to you." he says. Dr. Blowhole glares at him.

"And what would that be?"

"You let us go, and I hand over the blueprints." Dr. Blowhole looks at him interested.

"And what makes you think that I care what's in those papers?" he asks uncaring.

"I don't, but I do know that you've been searching for _some _sort of blueprints, and if I calculated right than there's a 94.7% chance that these are it."

"Smart lad." Answers Dr. Blowhole. "So smart, in fact, that I'll tell you what I plan on doing. You know what those blueprints are of, don't you?" Kowalski shakes his head.

"Well, I figured that much. You see, these are the blueprints of a perpetual energy machine. With it, I will be able to extinguish the sun, and when the sun stops shining I will be the only one capable of bringing it back. Just imagine, thousands of animals and _humans_ begging _me_ to bring it back. They'll have to do whatever I tell them to in order for me to bring it back. And, since now you know, I can tell you that I won't be stopped by a young chick who hasn't even lost his feathers yet."

Kowalski listened to his speech uncaring. He takes out a lighter and sparks it, placing it directly under the papers.

"So I guess you're going to threaten to destroy them if I don't agree right?" Kowalski nods. Dr. Blowhole smiles.

"Just like your father. Well, I figure that since you're here by yourself you wouldn't have needed to ask me to let _all_ of you go, so I can't help but wonder, where are the rest of you little friends?"

"Right here."

Dr. Blowhole turns. Annie, Shimmy, Rico, and Skipper stood behind him in position.

* * *

Skipper and Shimmy held on to the bars trying to stay above the water with no success. The cage was simply too heavy so it sunk rapidly. Somewhere in the room, Skipper heard something blow-up. He would have, in less desperate circumstances, placed more interest in such a thing, but at the moment he was a bit busy trying to stay away from the jellyfish in the small space that he had. He made muffled attempts at kicking the jellyfish but only gained himself another painful sting. He felt another sting the back of his flipper and he had to keep from screaming. He could feel himself running out of breath. The jellyfish were all around stinging at every part of him within reach. He didn't know how many stings a penguin could take but he didn't feel far from it. Beside him he could feel Shimmy slapping at the jellyfish. After a last sharp movement he didn't hear any more movement from Shimmy. _Guess this is it_ thinks Skipper closing his eyes.

* * *

A jellyfish grasps its tentacle around one of Skipper's flippers. It yanks him up and out of the water. He hears the clear sound of splashing water, which after his time with all those muffled sounds sounded like music to him. Skipper opens his eyes. Rico was taking him out of the water. On the floor beside him sat Annie hugging a very relieved-looking Shimmy. Skipper opens his beak to ask what was going on but Rico cuts him off putting his flipper to his beak. He points to Kowalski who was talking to Dr. Blowhole keeping him distracted. Skipper nods and sits to catch his breath for a while. The jellyfish stings still hurt but at least he wasn't getting any new ones. Once he felt he had gained enough breath he looks back at Kowalski. He had taken off his girl outfit and was still talking to Blowhole. Skipper stands and walks closer to him. The others follow. Kowalski seemed to be too worried in what Blowhole was saying to pay much attention to them.

"So than where are your little friends?" Skipper hears Blowhole say.

"Right here." Replies Skipper saucily

Dr. Blowhole looks around. If someone had told him that that day he would end up surrounded by a bunch of penguin chicks he would have slapped that someone. Yet here he was, surrounded by 5 penguins and definetly feeling the need to slap someone for not warning him of it.

"So what do you intend on doing?" he asks smiling.

"We're gonna get out of here." Replies Skipper glaring.

"Oh," mutters Blowhole "you think you'll be able to?"

"Smell the coffee Blowhole" snaps Skipper using a phrase that he had used with Dr. Blowhole before. "It's 5 against 1. You have no chance." The dolphin narrows its dark brown eyes.

"Skipper?" he asks incredulous. Skipper smiles in response. Dr. Blowhole glares at him.

"You-" There seemed to be no words bad enough to describe Skipper. The others looked at them in confusion.

"Still up to your old tricks I see." Laughs Skipper "I figure it's you who's been jacking all those planes?"

"If I'm reading these blueprints right, than the perpetual energy machine will need strong lightweight material, similar to that of an airplane's metal." replies Kowalski for him.

Dr. Blowhole growls.

"So what about all of the people in the planes?" asked Shimmy

"That's none of your business." Snaps Blowhole. He moves hastily towards the pool but Shimmy blocks his way. Everyone else corners him drawing nearer.

"Rico," calls Skipper "why don't you give us a bit of a preview of what you learned from that chick scout convention." Rico nods enthusiastically and coughs up some rope. Dr. Blowhole looks angrily at them. Rico walks up to him rapidly. Dr. Blowhole, though, was never one to be intimidated, so he turns and slaps at Rico. Rico backs up in time, surprised. Everyone jumps on Blowhole trying to restrain him despite his tough struggling. Rico jumps in and begins winding the rope around him making various twists and turns along the way. Once he was done everyone gets off of Dr. Blowhole and smile down at him. Dr. Blowhole growls at them but Rico coughs up a bandanna and ties it around his snout.

The door opens behind them.

"Sir we couldn't-" The lion and seal stare in shock at the sight before them. Skipper reacts quickly taking the blueprints from Kowalski and lighting the lighter again, holding it up.

"Rico, take off the gag." He commands. Rico hesitantly unties the knot. Skipper suddenly has an idea.

"Tell them to lead us to the place where all of those plane's passengers are on." He tells Blowhole, holding up the lighter as a warning. Blowhole looks at the blueprints with longing than nods involuntarily. The seal and the lion look at him confused.

"Follow me." Says the lion. Kowalski hands one of the radios to Skipper.

" You can contact us if there's any trouble." He tells Skipper. Skipper nods and watches Kowalski, Annie, and Rico following the lion and the seal.

* * *

The lion leads the way, with the seal walking beside him nervously. Kowalski looks at them carefully in case they try to attack them. Luckily, the lion and seal are clueless as to what to do so they lead them down some hallways till they finally stop at a white door. The seal takes out a key, using its flipper to turn the doorknob and nods inside. Kowalski signals to Rico and Annie to stay where they are and he goes in.

The room seemed to be a sort of factory for jetpacks. The workers went from place to place putting in wiring and shaping the metal. There were no windows and there seemed to be no way out. Guards stood at every corner watching them. Kowalski didn't recognize any of the animals there but some of them were penguins. Kowalski takes out his radio.

"Skipper, we have found the passengers, however, they are under surveillance. Would it be possible for you to convince Blowhole to release them?"

"On it." Responds Skipper "raise the volume." Kowalski turns the volume knob. Blowhole's voice comes on.

"Whisk, Mane, tell the guards to let them go." He growls into the radio. Whisk and Mane look at each other. The lion goes to the door.

"Hey Rick!" he calls to a nearby badger "We got new orders."

"Yea?" asks Rick.

"Let 'em go."

"Let 'em go?"

"Let 'em go." Restates the lion. The badger looks at him.

"Why would we wanna do that?" he asks.

"Blowhole's orders." Responds the lion. The badger glares suspiciously at Kowalski than turns to face the workers.

"Everybody stop the work!" he calls out "I want everybody to file by this door and follow Mane here, and no talking. Understand?" The workers stand stunned for a minute, than they make their way warily towards the door.

"The prisoners have been released." Calls Kowalski onto the radio.

"Bring them back to base." Answers Skipper.

Kowalski leads the way back down the hallway and the workers follow him. Rico and Annie stay behind to keep watch on them as the file out. Kowalski tries to smile reassuringly at them but they simply look down. Rico suddenly begins jumping up and down excitedly. Kowalski turns back in time to see him run to hug one of the penguins in the line. The penguin looks at him confused for a minute than gasps.

"Rico?" asks the shocked penguin. Rico nods happily. Kowalski looks more closely at the penguin. She seemed to be about a year older than Rico. She had the same color of his eyes, and her hair was hanging down in the same style that Rico had put it in when he was dressed up as a girl. Her beak was slightly smaller than his but there were enough similarities to give away that they were related.

"Sissy!" exclaimed Rico jubilant. The other workers look at them, the show of their reunion making them realize that they were finally free. They smile to each other unable to believe their luck.

Kowalski smiles to himself and proceeds walking down the hall again, the workers following him cheerfully. This had gone better than the statistics had told him.

* * *

Skipper was determined to bring Blowhole's entire plan down.

"You'll be coming with us." He tells Blowhole smugly "and once we get to the HQ you're gonna be doing some time." Blowhole didn't even glare; instead he just lay on the floor with a bored expression. Shimmy stood beside him making sure he didn't try anything funny.

"We're on our way" he hears Kowalski say over the radio. Skipper smiles.

"Well, Blowhole," he laughs "looks like it's checkmate." He walks over to the jellyfish hole.

"I might never eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches ever again." He mutters to himself. Shimmy watches him walk around the room observing everything. Shimmy couldn't wait to get out of the place, the stings on his skin still burned. He bends down looking over them trying to figure out how many band-aids he would need. He was so busy deploring his wounds that he didn't even realize when Blowhole rose to the air. A sudden swish of air next to him made him look up though.

"What the-" Shimmy exclaimed. Skipper turns around surprised. Blowhole snatches the papers from his flipper with his snout and goes to his pool. Skipper and Shimmy run towards him, but Dr. Blowhole quickly pushes a button.

"You thought a few ropes would keep me from getting away?" laughs Blowhole "I don't need to move to float. All I need to be able to do is think." Behind him, the pool rose, it's water falling on them, sweeping them away. Skipper and Shimmy crash against the wall pushed down by the slapping water. They hold their breath and kick to the surface. Once on it they look back at Dr. Blowhole. He was floating above the water smiling haughtily at them.

"Come on Shimmy" calls Skipper "we have to stop him." They dive under, fighting against the current. Dr. Blowhole presses another button and a loud alarm sounds across the building.

* * *

Kowalski and the others were almost to the room where Skipper and Shimmy were at. Everyone was in high spirits. Annie was telling the workers all about how they had come to save them, and, as weary as the workers were, they couldn't help but smile hopefully at her. Rico was still next to his sister talking, in his own way, to her. Kowalski was still leading the workers to the room when he suddenly heard the alarm go off. Everyone looked around in confusion.

"What's going on?" Annie called to Kowalski. Kowalski shrugged looking back at her bewildered.

"This is Blowhole speaking." Came a voice over the intercom "all men to station. Close all possible exits, and catch the runaway workers. Any young boy penguins must be brought back to me." Kowalski and Annie look at each other in horror. The workers and Rico stand paralyzed.

"Run!" screams Annie. Everyone scurries as fast as they can down the hallway Kowalski pushes against the mob trying to get to his friends.

"Rico! Annie!" calls Kowalski over the sounds of the panicking animals. Annie grabs on to his flipper and begins yanking him.

"Come on Kowalski, no time for planning." She yells.

"Wait Annie," he replies ripping her flipper off of his "I have to go help Skipper. You and Rico find an exit and get the workers out of here!" Annie looks at him as if he had gone insane.

"Are you insane?" she yells confirming his thoughts "we won't let you go alone."

"Annie, this is no time for obstinacy." He pulls away from her and shoves his way through the others trying to reach the door.

* * *

[_italic=Skipper and Shimmy, _**Bold=Kowalski _point of view]_**

_Skipper and Shimmy still couldn't get near Dr. Blowhole. Not only did the current keep going, but also the jellyfish from the hole on the floor had found their way out and were now floating along in the current stinging them every time they didn't move far enough to dodge them. To make things worse, Dr. Blowhole had managed to take off the ropes._

**Kowalski pushes against the door but there seemed to be something propped on it. He threw himself against it in hopes of opening it to no prevail. He needed something stronger if he wanted to get the door to open. The last of the workers rushed past him.**

**"Guys!" called Kowalski. The workers kept going without bothering to turn back.**

_Skipper and Shimmy felt that they were back inside the jellyfish hole. The glutinous critters drifted all around, their electric tentacles grapping around them. Swimming against the current and having to hold their breath underwater in order to be able to look out for jellyfish was tiring them out. From his place above the water Dr. Blowhole watched them serenely._

**Kowalski was getting desperate. Skipper hadn't answered when he tried to call him on the radio and he could hear some sort of splashing sound coming from the room. The door still wouldn't open no matter how hard he tried, and the floor was wet so every time he pushed against the door he slipped. He didn't know why the floor was wet but he had no time to find out why. He knew that time was definetly one thing he was lacking but he simply couldn't think straight without something there to confirm the accuracy of his plan. Kowalski takes out his clipboard and begins to plan.**

_Skipper and Shimmy keep swimming. A few more feet and they would be able to reach Blowhole, if they made it. Skipper could feel himself slipping away and Shimmy was no better off. If only the water would go away. Skipper kicks with as much force as he can and finally reaches the edge of the pool. He grabs a hold of it and turns to look at Shimmy. He was still struggling to reach him. Skipper holds his flipper out as far as he can. Shimmy pushes himself until finally, he is able to reach it. Skipper grinds his beak from the effort of pulling him in. The current pulls, but Skipper pulls harder, Shimmy holds out his other flipper reaching out towards the end of the pool._

**Kowalski searches for anything in the place that might help him. He chews on his pen thinking. It was obvious that the door wouldn't budge. He stands and runs to the next door in the hallway. It was a sort-of lab with lots of beakers and bubbling things in it. There was no one there. Kowalski searched to see if maybe this room had a door connecting to the room Skipper was in but there was none. Hopeless, Kowalski leans against the wall. The popping sound of one of the liquids made him look up. There were all kinds of things in the beakers. His eyes scanned the room stopping on one of the beakers. He could recognize that clear, oily substance anywhere. Sulphuric acid! The beaker seemed to be especially made to hold such a dangerous matter. Kowalski took it and pried off the top carefully. He held the recipient away from him, carrying it as quickly as he could with out spilling it. He got to the door and carefully poured some on the edges of the door. He stepped away as the wood was slowly eaten away. He figured that if it took too long than he could kick it away.**

_Skipper could feel the water-level rising. There wasn't much water left in the pool, but it would be enough to rise above where he could reach. If he wanted to be able to hold on to the edge of the pool he would probably drown, but if he let go he would be swept away back to the jellyfish. Dr. Blowhole waited for either one to take place._

**The acid seemed to have eaten away halfway through. Kowalski heard a sort of groan coming from it. Suddenly, the door snaps as torrents of water push against it. Kowalski places the lid back on the container holding tightly on to it. He toboggans back into the lab rushing to close the door behind him. He can hear the water going down the hallway. He had gotten the door open, but he still wasn't in the room. There was only one thing left to do according to his clipboard. He takes some of the acid and pours it on the wall. A hole instantly begins to form. Kowalski looks around the room looking for something that would help him hit away the rest of the wall.**

_**The water was ebbing away. Skipper and Shimmy sight in relief as they feel the tide going down; Blowhole stares incredulous. The last of the pool water falls, but barely makes a difference, as the water level is so low. They hear something smashing against the wall and turn. They see Kowalski coming through it, holding a meter stick. He walks through the small puddles accumulated around the floor, stepping over a few slimy jellyfish. Shimmy and Skipper smile and climb over the pool looking at Dr. Blowhole. Kowalski catches up to them and they help him up. Together, the three friends turn to face the enemy.**_

_**"Men," says Skipper "begin operation 'Capture Willy'."**_

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Annie lost Kowalski in the crowd. She couldn't find him and she certainly couldn't go away without telling Rico. She sights and rushes to him. Rico was still holding on to his sister's flipper, though he was looking around for the others. He spotted Annie at the same time as her. She runs to him despite the crowd.

"Rico, we have to go back to help Kowalski!" she tells him. Rico looks at his sister and than back at her, indecision in his eyes. Rico's sister, who had been listening to the conversation, turns to him.

"Rico" she tells him letting go "go on. I'll find you again." Rico looks at her and nods. He goes with Annie and they begin to push against the crowd. They suddenly crash against someone as they he stops running. The sound of feet slowly begins to end as the worker stand in place.

"What's going on?" whispers Annie, feeling that she had to keep her voice down. Rico shrugs. She takes his flipper and turns around, instead going back to the front of the crowd. Once she was finally close enough to see through everyone, she saw what was stopping the workers. In front of them lay the guards that had been keeping watch over them. They had weapons in their hands and were just waiting for the workers to walk through the door before they attacked. The workers stood unsure of taking the risk of charging through them, or going back where they would be locked up again. Annie felt the need to do something. She pushes through the last few animals in her way and turns to face the crowd.

"Come on, we have to get out of here!" she calls out to all of them. Some look down, while others keep staring unresolved. Annie can't believe her eyes.

"You all finally have a chance at freedom and you're letting it go? Yes, they have weapons, but there are more of us, and we know that they are probably only doing this because they were told to. We are doing this because we _need_ to. Are you going to let yourselves be shoved back into that factory, or are you going to fight to get the heck out of here?" the workers consider her words. Bit by bit, Annie sees the resolution forming in their eyes. She smiles and turns to face the guards.

"Rico, I hope you've had a good lunch, cause you're going to be regurgitating a lot of it today."

Rico grins excitedly.

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Please remember to review on this chapter! Check in a few days for chapter 8, Fighting! (i find it to be pretty self explanitory)


	9. Fighting

Here's another chapter. There will only be about 4 more, or three. I'm not sure. But what i am sure of is that in one of those chapters you will find out how Private got in! yeah! Anywho, I have found out what an AMAZING person Blouper is and so, as a form of thank-you (for being so FANTASTIC) this story goes to Blouper!

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Ch 8. Fighting

[just to be clear **bold=Skipper, Shimmy, and Kowalski's point of view.** normal=Rico and Annie)

**Kowalski, Skipper, and Shimmy faced Dr. Blowhole. It was three against one but still an even match. Although Skipper was good at fighting Kowalski still tended to overanalyze and Shimmy had become a driver before he had gotten the hang of it too. Blowhole was also an experienced fighter, plus he had the controls of a number of gadgets next to him. The stakes were high. If Blowhole lost, they would all be free to go and he would go to jail. If they lost, not only would they be locked up, but also Blowhole would most likely get rid of them so that they didn't cause him any more trouble.**

Annie handed out weapons out to the workers. Rico had coughed up as much as he could and so far they had gotten the wooden pole with which he they had been practicing before at the academy, three hand-grenades, a machete, a bundle of dynamite, a bowling ball, an umbrella, a load of firecrackers, a baseball bat, powdered pepper, more rope, a carton of eggs, and a paint-ball gun. It was obvious that some of the objects he had were not exactly for fighting, but these were desperate times so anything went. The workers looked at their "weapon" with interest, thinking of different ways in which they could use them. Rico kept coughing up items and Annie passed them out to whoever was closest. The guards waited outside the door, not realizing what they were doing, the gates that would set the workers free standing behind them.

A rushing sound makes the workers turn around in interest; coming towards them was the jellyfish infested water from the pool overtaking most of the hallway. The workers took one look and ran out forgetting to even ready themselves.

"**You really think that you'll be able to beat me?" sneered Dr. Blowhole**

"**We know so." Replied Skipper**

"**Actually" muttered Kowalski " there's a 47% chance that we will win."**

"**That's enough for me." Responds Skipper rushing in towards Blowhole. Kowalski and Shimmy follow his lead. Skipper kicks at Blowhole but he ducks in time, hitting him on the side. Skipper falls hard on the ground but stands back up quickly. Kowalski and Shimmy meanwhile jump on Blowhole trying to restrain him. Blowhole pulls against their grip ferociously, but Skipper runs in time and jabs him on the belly. Blowhole doubles over in pain dropping the blueprints, a gesture that Skipper takes advantage of by tackling him to the ground. Blowhole throws him against Shimmy and they fall off of the pool, the fact that it was raised making especially painful as they hit the ground. Kowalski looks at them bewildered. Blowhole smiles at him and goes back to the pool corner where all of the controls were. Kowalski thinks of what to do but his mind is frozen. He takes out his clipboard thinking about what to do. Blowhole laughs and rushes over to the controls.**

Annie got out of the way of the workers to avoid being trampled. The tidal wave of chlorine and jellyfish came towards them at a fast pace so she immediately turned and ran with them. Rico gasps, almost choking on the empty coke glass he had been coughing up. Annie grabs on to his shoulders and pushes him along with her. The water swept away the workers at the very back. Annie ran faster tripping over Rico. They stumble and fall on the floor. The workers keep running, some jumping over them, and some stepping on them. A lady porcupine stops to help them, hoisting Annie up and holding out a helping paw to Rico. The water reaches them, Rico not even able to get up from the floor. Annie struggles to stay above water; she had not been taught how to swim yet.

**Dr. Blowhole reaches the controls and pushes one of the many buttons on it. Skipper and Shimmy scramble to get up on the pool again. Kowalski configures options on his clipboard. Skipper and Shimmy manage to hold on to the edge of the pool by shimmying up. Blowhole looks down at them smiling. The pool begins to lower down quickly, Kowalski almost loosing his balance. Shimmy looks at Skipper panicked. If they let go they would fall directly down under the pool, if they stayed they would be crushed by it, it was impossible for them to climb on without any help since the pool was so slippery. Kowalski looks down at them alarmed. He could only help one of them up at the time, and he certainly couldn't try to hold up the pool. His only hope was to stop the pool by pushing the button again, but how? Kowalski looks down at his clipboard. It had helped him figure out what to do on so many occasions, and his dad had cherished it, now it would help him out the most, though not in the usual way. Kowalski holds the clipboard like a Frisbee, calculating the angle, and throws it at the controls. Dr. Blowhole realizes too late what he was doing and tries to catch it, but the clipboard hits him on the head and bounces onto the button that had started the pool's descend. Skipper and Shimmy brace themselves for the pain that was sure to come by closing their eyes. They hang on to the edge of the pool waiting. Skipper opens his eyes confused. The pool had stopped! Kowalski holds out his flipper to help Shimmy up. Blowhole staggered from the force of the hit. Clipboards had never been so painful to come in contact with. Shimmy helps Skipper up and they run to hold on to Blowhole. In a haste to defend himself Dr. Blowhole grabs Kowalski's clipboard and breaks it over Shimmy's head. Shimmy falls and doesn't move. Skipper and Kowalski gasp looking down at the still form of their friend.**

The workers that hadn't been overcome by the water ran head on to the guards. At first the guards had laughed at their terrified expressions but than became confused when they saw them running _towards_ them. They were so baffled that instead they just stood looking at them wondering what was going on. They soon found out. The water came through the door now armed with the struggling workers that hadn't been fast enough. It wrapped around them throwing them off of their feet. Now that it was outside though, the water spread, leaving scattered workers, guards, weapons, and jellyfish alike. Once the water level had gone down low enough some animals began to stand, still chocking from the water and throwing jellyfish off of themselves. Rico looks around for Annie. He had tried to hold on to her but the water had swept her away. Rico turns frantically trying to see over people for the young girl. He spots a small figure lying on the floor. Three jellyfish were tangled around it. Rico can't believe what he's seeing. He walks slowly towards it, not paying the slightest attention to the new stings from the jellyfish he steps on or the animals around him. He kneels down and flips over the small girl. He finally sees Annie without her usual spunk.

"**Shimmy?" asked Skipper anxiously. Shimmy doesn't answer. Kowalski runs to kneel next to him. Dr. Blowhole laughs loudly.**

"**Well, one down, two to go." **

"**Not on my watch." Growls Skipper. He charges at Blowhole jabbing and punching at every part of Blowhole that he could get to. Blowhole backs up dodging and blocking his blows. Kowalski, meanwhile, examines Shimmy for any sign of life placing the beaker of acid by his side. He checks his pulse and finds a very feeble throb. His head was bleeding profusely and he was lying at an awkward angle. Kowalski carefully moves him so that he was instead lying on his back, moving his flipper out from underneath him. He inspects the wound on his head. It was hard to tell how deep it really was because of all of the blood, but it seemed that it would need stitches. He knew that head injuries tended to bleed a lot, and tended to look worse than they really were. Skipper was still fighting Dr. Blowhole and seemed to need help, but at the moment it was more important to help Shimmy. He looks at the shattered remains of his cherished clipboard. What else was there to do? He pretends to hold his clipboard and thinks. He needed some sort of cloth to stop the bleeding. He looks around and spots his pink skirt. When he had thrown it, it had gotten stuck on the hole in the wall so the water hadn't reached it. It was still too high for him to get to though. Beside him he sees the rope that Blowhole had been tied up with. It would do. He ties the rope around a piece from his clipboard than goes to the wall. He throws the piece of clipboard and pulls it around until it catches the skirt, which he yanks on until it falls in front of him. He than runs back to Shimmy whose feathers were now a vivid red. Remembering what to do from the pictures on Dr. Reece's office he raises Shimmy's head onto his lap to slow down the bleeding. Using the pages from his clipboard he wipes away blood that had dripped on to his face and beak. Skipper passes by him, still struggling to fend off Blowhole. He was limping and had a cut on his face but he still seemed to be doing well. Blowhole was only using one flipper and seemed to be fighting without thinking. Although this would usually be good it made it harder for Skipper as he couldn't assume what he would attempt to do next. Kowalski looks at them desperately, than turns back to Shimmy. He places the skirt over the swollen cut that kept gushing blood and pressed it to stop what was starting to seem like a hemorrhage. **

Rico takes the jellyfish off of Annie revealing red marks that tied in with the jellyfishs' shape. He turns her head to the side to allow any water in her mouth to drain out. Once some of it leaked out he turns her head back center and begins compression. He counts to thirty, trying to keep the pace of 100 per minute. Before he gets to 22 Annie suddenly sits up coughing up water. Rico hits her back to help her get rid of the water in her lungs. Annie looks around disorientated.

"What's going on?" she asks

"Egh!" responds Rico pointing to the water and the workers. Annie sees what he means and nods her head.

"We have to get them out of here while we can." She stands shakily wincing at the jelly stings crisscrossing around her.

"Everyone!" Annie calls out. The guards look at her suspiciously. The workers take one look at her and remember what they were there for. They began a mad scramble in all direction, unsure of where to go now that they were out of the building. The guards watch this show also remembering _their_ purpose. They stand and begin to attack the closest workers.

**Shimmy was still unconscious and was still bleeding. Kowalski knew that as soon as you began pressure on a wound you didn't let go until the bleeding stopped, but Skipper wasn't doing so well anymore. One of his wings was hanging uselessly at his side now, and he was making more and more mistakes. Dr. Blowhole had not acquired any more injuries and now seemed more conscious of what he did, using clever tactics to make Skipper do obvious moves. Every time Skipper fell for them Blowhole would dodge in time and land a hit on him. Kowalski would wince every time he saw Skipper stagger, but still couldn't do anything. Shimmy would probably go into shock from lack of blood if he stopped to help Skipper, but Dr. Blowhole would probably soon deliver a fatal blow to Skipper if he didn't help him.**

**Shimmy had only been with them for a few days, and Kowalski had known Skipper for almost a month. He knew that as egotistic as it sounded he would prefer to save Skipper, but he still didn't want to let Shimmy die. Skipper fell on the floor. He was breathing heavily and he wasn't wearing his usual confident smile. Dr. Blowhole grabbed him with his good flipper and went to the hole on the floor. There were no more jellyfish on it but it was still filled with water. Skipper struggles weakly but Dr. Blowhole was much stronger. Kowalski searches frantically for something that he could use to keep the pressure on Shimmy's head, but stops when he sees what lay on the ground; a bundle of rolled up papers, a bit crumbled, but he knew that they were important. He tries to scoot over to reach them without disturbing Shimmy, but it was too far. He still had the rope with the piece of clipboard on it though. Twirling it over his head he throws it and sees it land on them. Bit by bit, trying to not let it slip over he pulls the papers to him. The beaker with acid next to him gives him an idea.**

"**Hey Blowhole!" he calls. Blowhole stops, halfway to the hole on the floor with Skipper dangling helplessly from his flipper. Kowalski places the blueprints on the floor, one flipper keeping pressure on Shimmy's head, the other holding the beaker over the blueprints. Blowhole's eyes widen. **

"**I'm sure that you know what I want to exchange." Says Kowalski. He takes the top off of the beaker and tips it, alluring Blowhole to stop him. Without an idea of what else to do Dr. Blowhole lets go of Skipper.**

It was chaos outside of Blowhole's province. Everyone had scrambled to grab the nearest thing to them and were now using against each other. It was battle where anything was allowed. A penguin threw ground pepper onto an alligator's eyes, a badger threw a cat into the air, a dog used bowling ball to knock over a fox that who was busy chasing a rabbit. Annie and Rico stood back to back to back hitting any guard that dared get near them. A hyena made it's way towards Annie smiling deviously. Rico sees it in time and throws Annie high up into the air while side kicking the hyena. Annie flips and lands on the hyena's back, who collapses from the hit. A coyote tries to sneak up behind Rico but Annie grabs him by the flippers and swings him against it. Rico was a strong penguin and the many things inside him made him hard as stone. The coyote yelps and runs away. Since the guards had let go of their own arsenal when the tide overtook them the workers now had a lead. Bit by bit, the guards surrendered until the only guard still fighting was Mane. He hit and bit, scratched and tore at anybody who came near him. The workers backed away from him in fear. Mane runs to block the gate snarling threateningly. Nobody dares get close.

**Kowalski still didn't move the beaker away from the papers. **

"**If you'll allow Skipper to come over here without harming him I'll hand them to you." **

**Blowhole nods resentfully and watches as Skipper rises unsteadily and than walks slowly back to the pool. He doesn't climb into it though, and instead leans against it. Kowalski looks at him worried, than looks back at Blowhole. **

"**Well, you got your little friend back." He snaps , "Now hand over the blueprints." Kowalski shrugs, a deal was a deal. He rolls the blueprints more tightly and gets ready to throw them when Skipper suddenly jumps in front of him.**

"**No you don't!" he says taking them from him. He picks up the beaker and stuffs the papers into it. A sizzling noise comes from the beaker as the acid consumes the papers. **

"**No!" screams Blowhole. Skipper seals the beaker again and throws it at him. Blowhole takes off the lid and begins shaking the bottle upside down trying to get them out. The acid splatters on the ground, some burning the ground, some burning his skin. Skipper hangs onto one of Shimmy's shoulder signaling to Kowalski to take the other. **

**Together they haul Shimmy out of the room, Blowhole's screams still ringing in their ears.**

"We can't go through there." Says Annie looking at the lion in front of the gate. Rico nods, than has an idea.

"Other!" he calls pointing to the entrance. Annie thinks for a minute.

"Another exit?" she asks. Rico nods excitedly.

"Everybody follow us!" calls Annie running back inside. The workers let go of the guards and go behind her; they had already placed all of their trust on her and Rico's judgment. The guards sat on the ground, not wanting to risk going after them anymore. Mane watched them go in confused, but proud that he had forced them to go back in, assuming that they had given up. Annie leads the way back down the hallway, remembering how only a few hours back, Kowalski had been doing the same. She realized that now she could go back to help him out, and this time with all of the workers with her they would be able to capture Blowhole. She picks up the pace, not wanting to waste any time in getting there, after all, her brother was there and she couldn't wait to see him again to rub in what a great job she did on her first mission.

**The wet floor of the hallway made it harder to carry Shimmy. His feet dragged on the floor as Skipper and Kowalski struggled to carry him. It was true to say that Shimmy was still a kid, but he was **_**[again, this is only an approximation]**_** sixteen years old, a teenager, and though it was two of them carrying him they were still pretty young. Not to forget that Skipper's injuries included a sprained ankle and a broken wing. Also the fact that Kowalski had to use his other wing to keep the cloth pressed to his head.**

"**That was some great thinking back there Kowalski" grunted Skipper as he tried to keep his grip on Shimmy.**

"**I owe it all to my clipboard." Replied Kowalski sadly "I always felt like my dad's ability to process ideas rapidly came from that clipboard onto me. I'm really going to miss it." Skipper finally realizes just how much the clipboard meant to Kowalski.**

"**You always did manage to come up with the best of plans with it." He said trying to cheer him up. Than it strikes him. "Speaking of which, what are we going to do now?"**

_Annie and Rico were almost to the room. _

"_I'm sure by now they've got Blowhole and have found an exit." Annie tells Rico enthusiastically. Rico listens, though he doesn't look so sure. Down the hall they spot Skipper and Kowalski walking backwards seeming to be hauling something along. Annie smiles._

"_See? What did I tell you?" says Annie running even faster. Rico follows after her, worried. There was something not right._

"_Guys!" calls Annie "hey guys!" Kowalski and Skipper turn around. As they do Annie see now that Skipper was limping, that Kowalski had the most forlorn expression on his face, and the exactly what it was that they were hauling. _

"_Shimmy?" whispers Annie._

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Remember to...oh, you know the rest. Anywho, i will need names for the next chapetrs. I'm not good at making up names so instead I've decided to let you guys hand in your names and I'll put you in as characters! (i only need first names!) [that's just in case people think I'm doing this as some kind of stalker thing]


	10. Waving Goodbye

hey-yo everyone who has been following my story! thanxs for sticking through! here's ch9 for your enjoyment, and a BIG thank-you to those of you who have posted your names, Next chapter will begin with them! Today, though, i thank weirdgirl1332 for letting me use her name, Gina!

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Ch. 9 Waving Goodbye

_Annie could remember how much she had wanted to go on a mission. Her mom wouldn't allow her to though, because her dad had disappeared during one and now she feared that the same would happen to her children. Shimmy had never really liked missions, but he did like vehicles, a trait that his mom took advantage of by convincing Commander South to instead let him be a driver. There was still the situation with Annie though. She was stubborn and wanted to prove that she was good enough to become a recruit but her mom didn't let her. Instead she signed her up to be the receptionist's assistant. Still, during her free time, Annie would train and work in the procedure used in the Academy. It wasn't until she found out that Shimmy was going to drive a few recruits to their first mission that she got her chance though. Her brother would be there so he would be able to give a testimony on how well she did (she was positive that she would be exceptional) and since this was the recruit's first mission it shouldn't be that complicated (or so she assumed). She had snuck into the helicopter when no one was watching, and once they got to the plane all she had to do was slip in through the door that Skipper had forgotten to close. When they had to throw themselves into the ocean she had held on to the bottom of the raft and when they got close to shore she let go, waited for them to cover the raft, than followed behind them. As for the time when they ran into the auditorium all she did was go around the building and enter through the front door. She had planned on just going along and reveal that she had come when the mission was over but than she saw that one of the boys from the group had to sing and as far as she could remember he barely even talked, so she switched the microphones and sung for him. It had all been worth it when she saw Shimmy's expression. Now, she wished that she hadn't come on this mission, how could she, when her brother was on the floor loosing more blood by the second?_

"What happened?" she whispered unable to speak any louder. Shimmy wasn't moving. He wasn't…was he?

"Listen Annie" began Kowalski trying to calm her down "it's really not as bad as it looks. I think I've managed to slow down the hemorrhage and with Rico here we'll be able to begin treatment immediately. Blowhole hit him with my clipboard, that's all" Annie stares, a mixture of sorrow and anger mingling in her face. Blowhole had done this? To her brother?! What had he ever done to him?

"Rico, can you hand me some bandages, sterilizing liquid, peroxide, a few gauzes, something to make a splint, some thread, an ice bag, and a stretcher?" Rico sets to fill his order. Annie listens horrified.

"He needs all of that?" she asks close to tears. The workers watch apprehensively, not having the heart to remind them that they still had to get out of there.

"Actually, about half of it is for Skipper." Replies Kowalski pointing to Skipper who huffed.

"I'm fine." He snapped, "It's Shimmy we have to worry about for now, mine are just a few insignificant scratches." Kowalski looks at him questioningly but doesn't say anything and instead gets to work on Shimmy. Annie hovers anxiously.

"Can I help somehow?" she asks her voice shaking as she struggles to keep calm. Kowalski considers for a second. He sees how scared Annie was of her brother and he knew that it would probably not be good for her to see just how bad his cut was. She seemed so small and worried; he had to keep her distracted away from her brother. He could remember how he felt when his parents had died and didn't want Annie to begin thinking that that's what had happened.

"You can work on Skipper while I work on Shimmy, how about it?" Annie nods and goes to Skipper who grumbles but doesn't object when she begins making a splint on his broken flipper. Rico helps Kowalski with Shimmy. Than Kowalski remembers. He looks up at the workers standing in front of them awkwardly.

"Oh, right." He stands for a minute letting Rico take over stitching Shimmy. "Umm… I've considered some options and…err, if I'm assuming right than Blowhole must have the airplanes hidden somewhere in this building, so if you all disperse and look around we might be able to find them and get away." It was hard to remember his plan when he didn't have it written in front of him. It was also annoying that he couldn't calculate just how much possibility of success they had. The workers don't notice how sloppy his speech was though and instantly set to searching the building. With the guards all outside there was nothing to fear anymore.

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It took about half an hour for the workers to finally find the room. Once they found that there was a locked door they had no doubt what it was and instantly went back to report to the penguins. Kowalski and Rico had managed to stop Shimmy's bleeding and had sealed the wound, which they proceeded to wrap in bandages. Annie ended up being a really good nurse and had gotten Skipper's various injuries under control. The porcupine that Annie recognized as the one that had helped her up when no one else would came running down the hallway.

"We found it!" she exclaimed excitedly "or at least we think we have, but it's locked so we figure that stands for something." Skipper nods at her logic.

"Rico, help them out." Rico coughs up a rolled up towel and places it under Shimmy's head like a pillow, than follows the porcupine to the door. Kowalski resumes checking Shimmy's vital signs and Annie goes to kneel down by her brother. They hear a loud explosion followed by some cheers. Skipper smiles.

"Come on, we've got a ride to catch." He grabs one side of the stretcher Shimmy was in and Kowalski holds the other. Annie grabs on to the middle. They walk down the hallway with renewed hopes.

Rico found his sister among some of the animals waiting by the door. She smiled, following him as he picks out a plane.

"Where are you going to?" she asks him. Rico signals a salute and marches.

'An academy?" she asks; Rico nods. "Guess I'll have to check in." she laughs. Rico jumps enthusiastically climbing aboard a plane that was the perfect size for the trip and the amount of passengers that they would take.

Rico gets the plane going, though the others didn't realize it, he had actually paid attention to the controls and had as much experience in driving as Shimmy. The workers begin to place themselves into groups by place that they had to go. Most of those in the same group knew each other as they had been on the same plane when the storm overtook them. Each group went into a different plane, and since there had been a pilot in every group they were all able to start the engines with no trouble. It was almost deafening being in that room with so many planes in gear, but the workers still went excitedly from place to place. Rico gets off of the plane and waves to Skipper who was coming in through the door with Kowalski and Annie helping him carry Shimmy.

"Fantastic work Rico!" Skipper tells him over the noise of the planes. Rico grins helping them up the stairs. A huge door opens in front of them and some planes begin to file out. Kowalski sits on the pilot seat and Rico goes to sit next to him as co-pilot. They nod at each other and began punching in buttons while counting down. The plane moves forward and out of the room, revealing the setting sun in front of them.

A ramp allowed planes to take off into the ocean. Kowalski and Rico maneuvered the plane so that it would slowly begin its ascend. Rico turns to his sister remembering to introduce her.

"Gina." He says pointing at her. Gina smiles and holds her flipper out to everyone.

"Pleased to meet you." says Skipper shaking with his left flipper as his right was in a splint.

"It's an honor." Says Kowalski laughing nervously at shaking flippers with an older girl.

"Great to finally know you." says Annie still leaning over Shimmy in worry; Shimmy was still lying on the stretcher, but he looked better than before.

A sharp laugh makes them turn around. Blowhole stood in front of them.

* * *

Blowhole did not look good, or sane. His skin was burned and cut, partly from fighting Skipper and partly from the acid that had fallen on him. His raw flippers were curled into fists and his eyes were narrowed in rage. He turns towards the door of the plane and turns the handle, throwing the door out into the open revealing the dark night sky. The penguins watch in confusion. Blowhole turns to them and charges toward Skipper who was sitting on one of the chairs, his twisted ankle resting on the chair in front of him. Skipper tries to jump into position, but Blowhole grabs him by the broken wing and begins dragging him toward the door. Rico jumps off of his seat and goes after Blowhole. Dr. Blowhole glares at him as he charges and kicks him away. Rico hits the wall, a dazed expression on his face. Gina runs to Rico to make sure he's okay, Blowhole resumes dragging Skipper to the door despite his struggling. Kowalski pushes the auto pilot button and goes to help Skipper but is stopped by Annie rushing past. It was hard to tell whose face showed the most anger, Annie's or Blowhole's. She jumps into the air, tackling Dr. Blowhole. Blowhole lets go of Skipper in his surprise and the fight begins. Annie shrieks at him as she kicks and punches him.

_Annie remembered what Kowalski had said._

_"Blowhole hit him with my clipboard, that's all." It had been him who hurt Shimmy. She knew that at times her brother really annoyed her but she still loved him. He had always been there for her, had been nice to her when she was sick, tried to make her feel better when her mom wouldn't let her be a recruit, played games with her when she was bored. What right did Blowhole have to hit her brother? And what if he never got better?_

"It's–all-your-fault!" she screeches at him. Dr. Blowhole tries to get away bewildered by how hard she could hit. Annie was moving so fast he doesn't even have time to dodge or duck so instead he tries backing up in order to get away. The others watch unsure of what to do. None had ever seen Annie look so angry before and, as odd as it was, they were actually afraid to get near her at the moment.

"If Shimmy doesn't make it I'm going to –to" what she would do they never did find out. Annie had been too busy beating up Blowhole to realize exactly where Blowhole had been backing up to. Everyone watches as Blowhole falls through the door and grabs onto Annie for balance. Annie was very strong, but she was still small and therefore no match for the weight of a dolphin falling out of a door. They both fall into the air, the hard ocean below them. Skipper gasps and goes to the edge of the door. He gets there in time to see Annie disappear into the dark water. His eyes stay in place waiting for her to resurface but all he sees is the sea.

"Kowalski, options!" yells Skipper.

Kowalski stands uselessly searching for the clipboard that he didn't have. How could his mind be frozen right now? He had to think of something, but what? It was dark, they were probably already too far away from where she had fallen, there was no way to turn the plane around. What could be done? And was there even a point in trying? He could feel a knot forming in his throat. There had to be a way, he couldn't let Annie die.

"Kowalski think!" snaps Skipper "What are the chances of her making it?" Rico coughs up some paper and a pencil for Kowalski. He instantly sets to work. What could they do? What could be done? How could they help her? How!

The paper in front of him remains blank. There were no options, and the chances of her survival were even lower than the amount of alternatives he had written down.

"Kowalski!" yells Skipper desperate now. Kowalski looks down and shakes his head.

Rico looks desperately at Kowalski's hopeless expression and runs to Skipper, looking down at the endless ocean below them. He shuddered realizing that Annie was down there, by herself in the unforgiving water. He remembers the brave little girl that had sung for him at the auditorium, how she had told the workers enthusiastically about how they were there to save them, and how he had already saved her life once. How could it be that he couldn't help her now? Maybe he could cough up a rope? But where to throw it if she hadn't resurfaced yet? He had to find her. Rico prepares to jump off of the plane to go save her but Skipper holds him back.

"Have you lost your mind Rico?" he yells "We've already lost Annie, we can't loose you too." Rico tries to shove him away but Kowalski holds his shoulders firmly and doesn't let him go.

"There's nothing we can do Rico." Says Kowalski sadly. Rico stops fighting him as his words sink in. Weary, he goes to lean against the wall. Gina goes to him and tries to comfort him.

Shimmy groans in the corner and sits up. He looks around at the unusually quiet penguins.

"What's going on?" he asks groggily.

"Annie's…gone." Whispers Kowalski not meeting his eyes. Shimmy looks confused. They had to be lying. How could Annie, full of life Annie, possibly be…

He searches around frantically, his eyes going from face to face looking for the only one that wasn't there.

* * *

The penguins were back at the base; an enthusiastic-looking Commander South greeted them.

"Boys you've done it! We've gotten all six of the planes that went missing and the passengers in them! I heard them say something about a young missy who helped you?" he asks chuckling. Shimmy steps up.

"Yes sir. That was my sister Annie. She snuck into the copter and came with us." He says quietly. Commander South seems a bit taken aback by his forlorn expression.

"Yes, she's been missing since you boys left, I had already assumed she did this. So where is she?"

Shimmy shakes his head. Commander South looks at the rest of them.

"We'll have the service in a few days." He says "I want a full report of your mission." He turns and leads them inside where the workers-or now the found cadets-were cheering their freedom.

The academy had a day off for Annie's memorial the next day. Many stepped up to talk in her behalf, Shimmy didn't though. Rico wasn't good with words, so instead he sat with Shimmy keeping him company. The sweet speeches they made about her made him feel sick but he knew he had to stay. It hadn't been the first mission in which there had been someone lost, but so far, Annie was the youngest on record. Skipper steps up to speak, the people of the academy listening quietly.

"Annie was a good little soldier. She helped us out when we most needed it and made us laugh when times were tough. She-she gave us all hope; her constant optimistic outlook on things really made us feel like it _would_ all work out. She was very much loved, that's easy to see. She was brave; I owe her my life. In fact, I think we all do." Skipper turns to salute the arrangement of flowers placed for Annie than steps down. Kowalski had tried to write a speech but he hadn't been able to, so as he stepped up to the podium he felt a deep dread. He takes a deep breath and begins his speech, one that he hadn't calculated or previously considered.

"I only knew Annie for about two days. Still, I have never before met such a smart and courageous girl before. She wanted to prove that she was strong, and I have to say that I have no uncertainty at all that she wasn't. She stood up for her brother and for us, and though she didn't make it, I still know that she would have made the best recruit here. We will all remember Annie, and think fondly of her, because she acted not for prestige, but for the ones she cared about." Kowalski steps down.  
It was hard knowing that they hadn't been able to help, but the penguins knew that they had to move on.

* * *

It had been four years since their first mission. Shimmy had gotten back to driving and the penguins had gone back to their tasks. Things were pretty much back to normal though they still missed Annie.

Rico's sister had stayed with them for a few weeks and managed to tell them the entire story of Rico's unfortunate accident. Rico's family had been in Antarctica exploring a new human camp in search of their purpose. The humans had a storage room full of guns and other potentially lethal items stored which they used for whale hunting. so Rico's family had decided to get rid of it. Rico had wandered away while they were examining the guns and had gotten a hold of some firecrackers in the place. Since he was young he had liked explosive things and eating things so he was having a blast in the camp. Gina had realized that he was missing and began searching for him. She saw when the whale attacked him and rushed to help but the humans had gotten back and grabbed her. She assumed that the whale thought that Rico was also a human shooting at it and that's why it attacked. They sent her and her parents to a penguin research facility from which her parents had helped her get out of. When she got back she couldn't find Rico anywhere. She searched for months until she came upon a flock of penguins who told her that there had been a penguin searching for new recruits and that he had seen a small penguin with a mohawk get on his ship. With that information had gone in search of him. Unfortunately she got on the wrong plane, one that passed over the Bermuda Triangle, which was how she was captured. She had been forced to work in there since than.

Although she was glad to be back with Rico again she knew that he was safe at the Base and that she still had to find their parents, so once she had made all of the necessary arrangements she waved good-bye to Rico and headed back to Antarctica.

* * *

Kowalski was once more writing down options. He had a notepad that Skipper and Rico had given him for his birthday, which, although not a clipboard (Skipper didn't want a repetition of incidents) still served its purpose. He was contemplating the possibilities of what their next mission would be. Despite the dread that he got sometimes when he remembered how the first mission had gone he still went along because after all, he had wanted to become a recruit.

"Kowalski come on!" calls Skipper "you know Commander South doesn't like to be kept waiting." Kowalski tucks his notepad under his wing and hurries to get to Commander South's office. A new mission awaited them.

* * *

I'm sorry to those of you who might have been attatched to Annie. She got a total hero ending though. Please review and tell me what you think so far :)


	11. Meeting

Gee,I'm REALLY sorry that i took so long to update. School, you know? Anywho, reminder, it is four years after Annie's death and the penguins are once again on a mission. To all of those who wanted to know where Private is from, enjoy :) Thanks to Dark Archer (Makenzie), Sewswim (Samantha), and Michelle735 (Michelle) for letting me borrow their names :)

* * *

Ch 10 Meeting

"This is a picture of her. Her name is Samantha, a very nice name, but I have to tell you, this lady doesn't have a very nice personality. If we are correct than she might be guilty of over 30 cases of kidnapping worldwide, that or she might actually be an average academy instructor. There haven't really been any reliable proof of her acts, and that's where you come in."

Commander South looked at the three young penguins in front of him evenly. They had all lost their baby down and seemed so much more mature than they had been when they first met. Commander South smiles remembering the first time he had seen them all. They had grown so much since than. Skipper hadn't grown as much as the other two, in fact they were now taller than him, but he still led a firm grip on the group despite his size. Rico had lost his squeak-toy voice and now muttered words whenever he felt like it, but the team was able to communicate with him efficiently even when he uttered simply grunts. He had gathered an astonishingly large amount of gadgets from their previous missions that had showed in his x-ray when they were doing their medical check-ups. Kowalski was now the tallest of them and still carried his notepad around. His advances in mathematics had gone beyond that of his teachers so now he had gotten special permission from Commander South to instead spend what would have been his math class creating new inventions. It was something that had been agreed after Commander South read the report from their first mission and had found out that Kowalski had had the perpetual-energy machine blueprints all along. They had been made by Kowalski's dad for military use and Commander South was very disappointed to find out that they had been destroyed after so much time underneath his nose. In hopes of maybe Kowalski some day creating something as incredible as that machine his dad had made he had allowed Kowalski the free time. So far there had been some amazing things made though there was a bit of confusion as to what they were for. Kowalski was still not used to making inventions and tended to simply create with whatever his mind instinct told him to.

"Your job," said Commander South going on with the plan "is to get solid proof that it was her who did all, or at least most of these crimes. Of course, we will also accommodate with solid proof that she is innocent since that way we'll be able to get on with suspect number two."

"How many suspects are there?" asks Kowalski taking note of what he said.

"36." Replies Commander South. Skipper nods his head, Rico grins absentmindedly remembering the bomb he had set off a few days back to get out of math class. He had been caught and been punished by cleaning all of the bathrooms in the building but it had been worth it.

"You will be going as exchange students with the purpose of researching British costume for an international bond between students. So you boys up for it?" asks Commander South. They nod. "'Right than, you know what to do." He watches as they salute him and toboggan out of the office.

"Going to Britain this time?" asks Shimmy. He was wearing his usual smirk, although it had been a while before he started wearing it again.

"Apparently so." Responds Kowalski buckling his seat belt. Shimmy had learned to drive considerably well but he still enjoyed watching their expressions when he almost tipped the plane over. Of course, he never would but they didn't know that. Since during their first mission they had freed the planes from the Bermuda Triangle they now didn't have to hijack a plane from the humans, which they were very grateful as it promised that they wouldn't have any torpedoes shot at them. Shimmy kept the planes in top shape so it was guaranteed that it would make the trip to Britain.

* * *

The group waves goodbye to Shimmy. They turn to face the new academy. It looked like a castle more than anything.

"Anyone get the feeling that we're back in medieval times?" asks Skipper. The other two nod. They gather their things, walk to the door and knock. A tall penguin answers the door. She towered over them in such a way that they instantly felt intimidated. Skipper squared his shoulders and steps up.

"Good day madam" he says tipping his head "we are the exchange students from The Academy for Young Penguins."

"Well, aren't you the dearest," respond the lady in a sugary voice "I am Commander Makenzi, headmaster of this school. And with whom do I share the pleasure?"

"I'm Skipper, that's Rico, and this is Kowalski." Commander Makenzi nods.

"Do come inside, we have been waiting for so long to meet you. I'm sure that most of the alumni in this school will find your arrival quite exiting." She leads them to her office, which was on the first floor. She goes to her desk and picks up a phone.

"Yes, can I have Michelle come here for a minute? Yes, the new students have arrived." She hangs up looking very pleased.

"Michelle is our top student here. She will be showing you around the school, show you to some friends, help you find your classes, anything you might need help with."

"That's very kind of you." says Skipper seeming to be having a hard time not answering in his typical sly remarks. He was obviously trying to keep up the "humble and non-suspicious" façade going but the whole "being-led-by-a-girl" thing wasn't much up to his liking.

"From what I have gathered you boys excel in most of your classes. I was quite surprised that Commander South would let three of his best recruits come when he could keep you to himself and keep bragging about all of your accomplishments, but than again, I'm not complaining about this." The penguins look at each other; the best recruits?

"We're very much flattered mam." Responds Skipper. The others nod along. A girl appears at the door and they turn with interest. She was medium sized, more to Rico's height, perhaps a year older than him, with a small beak, big black eyes to match her feathers and a sweet smile playing on her beak.

"Michelle, how nice to see you here." Says Commander Makenzi standing up, the young penguins following her lead "these are our exchange student from the Base; Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico. Boys, this is Michelle." Michelle holds out her flipper and they shake in turn.

"How do you do?" asks Michelle. The boys simply muttered "fine" in response, not quite understanding this form of greeting from someone their age.

"Well, scurry along now, class begins in a few minutes and we want to be sure that these boys are settled in."

* * *

"According to our modus operandi, I have to give you a full tour of this building before I am allowed to go back to forms. So, in honor of you getting here and allowing me to miss them I'll tell you all that you must and must not do in order to survive this school. Since you are exchange students you will be very much adored by the girls at the forms but you must remember that it can gain you demerits to pay any attention to them." Skipper, Rico, and Kowalski look at each other. Had Michelle actually said what they thought she said?

"We are professionally trained cadets," says Skipper a bit taken aback by her speech "I guarantee we pay no attention to…that kind of thing."

"Oh, good." Replies Michelle a bit relieved "the last exchange students we got made quite a row. All right since I now know that you will stick to your job I can tell you the places. The hallway down that way is where the girl's dormitories are located, this is the one where you boys will be situated. Of course, boys are not allowed to go on the girl's hallway anymore than girls are into the boys' but I am one of the few exceptions as I am a tour guide." She leads them to room 56. "This is your room, I hope you find it to your liking." She motions inside; it was pretty much like their dorm back at the Base, though the beds were a different style, a tad more elegant.

"The loos are to your right." States Michelle pointing. Kowalski, Rico, and Skipper turn to see that she was pointing at the bathrooms. They shrug their shoulders, after all besides a few words; the language was pretty much the same. Kowalski takes note of the words that he found different and writes down assumed definitions.

"Do you always carry that notepad around?" asks Michelle

"Affirmative." Responds Kowalski.

"I hope you don't take this offensively but are you a swot by any chance?"

"A swot?" asks Skipper confused.

"Oh, what is it you call it in English" mutters Michelle "Oh, yes, a nerd." Kowalski's pencil point almost snaps.

"You know "nerd" was actually a word formulated by a human author in a children's book?" mutters Kowalski. He had never before been called a nerd, or a "swot" by anyone before at the Base, in fact his classmates were very grateful that he was as he was always able to help them. He was starting to dislike this girl.

"I don't mean it to be a bad thing," laughed Michelle a bit nervously, "I just mean that you might not want to let others know, they'll be all over you asking for answers. It happens to me a lot as I am a swot, and proud of it." Kowalski doesn't know how to answer. Skipper looks between the two with a 'you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me' expression. Rico coughs up a firecracker and lights it.

"Oh no, wait!" exclaims Michelle taking the firecracker from him. "Bangers are strictly forbidden here." She says apologetically as blows away its flame. Rico looks at it sadly.

"So how about some lunck before forms?" asks Michelle trying to cheer them up. All she did was confuse them.

* * *

It ended up that what Michelle meant was "How about some quick lunch before class?" It was of course, confusing to the penguins to understand the different variations included in this language but they felt that perhaps after a while they would be able to cope. Kowalski made a note in his clipboard to research every word that he didn't understand.

They got to the cafeteria and there it was that Michelle pointed out the teachers, among them was no other than Professor Samantha.

"Kowalski, options?" whispers Skipper while Michelle turns to point out the different lunch lines.

"Pretend to gather an interest in the school staff?" whispers Kowalski back. Skipper nods.

"Eh…Michelle?" calls Skipper interrupting her. Michelle turns surprised.

"Yes?" she asks.

"We were wondering if you could show us to the teachers. You know, get to know them a bit so that we know what to expect in class." Michelle nods understanding.

"All right, well, you know their names so now I'll go introduce them to you. Follow me." She says going, luckily, to Professor Samantha.

"Professor Samantha?" calls Michelle "pardon the interruption but our new students wanted to meet you before forms." Professor Samantha turns to them and smiles warmly.

"Well, of course, how enchanting." She says looking at them "I am Professor Samantha, and I teach Reading and Writing, as you call it." The penguins look at each other. Reading? Writing?!

"Well," begins Skipper trying to not give away the fact that back at the Base, there had never been reading or writing class "I'm Skipper and these are my team mates; Kowalski and Rico." Professor Samantha seemed very pleased with them.

"Wonderful!" she says looking at them "I have been expecting you boys to arrive and it is simply delightful to see you." The young penguins, including Michelle seemed taken aback by her extreme reaction but didn't question it. Skipper thinks about something to ask to keep the conversation going.

"How long have you been teaching?" he asks hoping that maybe she'll mention something from before she began her so called teaching career.

"I've only started this year." Says Professor Samantha thinking, "It was something that I took an interest in while I was in my past job as an inventor. I have always taken delight in working with children and it is simply wonderful that I can finally do what I love to do."

_Yeah right, delight. _Thinks Skipper.

"You were an in inventor?" barges in Kowalski taking out his notepad. Professor Samantha seems surprised that he would place such interest in that specific part of her sentence but she also seemed glad that he did.

"Yes, I have been an inventor for basically all of my life, and although I did find making inventions to be satisfying I'm still glad that I switched over to a teaching career."

It was from than that Kowalski spent the rest of the lunchtime asking Professor Samantha about the various inventions she had made writing in his notepad furiously all the while. Skipper was a bit annoyed that he wasn't allowing him to ask her any questions but he also felt glad that Kowalski was questioning her without arousing any suspicion, who knew? Perhaps something she told him would help them get some proof.

As Michelle had predicted, the girls at the academy were very thrilled to have some exchange students. Though this was still a strict military training school the girls somehow always found a way to wink at them or flutter their eyelashes when the instructors weren't looking. Skipper managed to keep a firm posture and somehow seemed to not even notice them, but Kowalski and Rico instantly felt distracted by them and so they spent most of the class with a red blush on their cheeks. Michelle couldn't help giggling at them as they walked a bit dazed towards her.

"I tried to warn you boys." She says as Skipper slaps each of them.

"Wake up, we don't have any time to be smiling back to any girl that winks at you." snaps Skipper. Kowalski and Rico look down in embarrassment.

"Come on, let's go to Professor Samantha's." say Michelle. They follow eager to finally get some time to see if they can get anything worthwhile reporting.

"All right everyone, settle down." Calls Professor Samantha clapping her flippers. Everyone goes to sit on a chair. Skipper, Kowalski and Rico simply wait for everyone to sit and than take the seats left over.

"Let's begin reading boys and girls." Calls Professor Samantha "We will have a quiz on this chapter when you're done."

Skipper, Rico, and Kowalski look at each other.

* * *

"I have never been so humiliated in my life." Mutters Kowalski. Rico and Skipper nod. True, going up to Professor Samantha to admit that they couldn't read was one thing, but having Commander Makenzi come over and lead them to a class filled with young hatchlings to study with was another thing. At least they had gotten part of the alphabet into their minds, and since Kowalski already knew some of them and was already a genius, he was actually starting to make out small words, such as 'cat'. All in all, their first day as exchange students proved to be a challenging one.

The next day was not quite so challenging. Sure, the girls were still in the "wow exchange students from somewhere else isn't that exotic?" mode, but besides that it sort of felt like back at the Base. Skipper, though felt that he needed to act more quickly.

"Boys." He tells them as they sit in their bunkrooms during break "we need info. Fast. If I recall correctly, a raven likes to treasure its stolen goods. And where do they keep it?" asks Skipper. Kowalski writes down a few notes on his clipboard.

"In its nest?" he asks. Skipper smiles slyly and nods his head.

"She seems to have taken a liking to you Kowalski, so just keep her talking while we go in. Ask her about her inventions, or tell her you want some extra help in reading. Anything as long as she doesn't come in till we're done. Meanwhile Rico and I will search for any reliable proof that this woman is as twisted as a Mexican churro." Skipper seemed convinced that this plan would go to perfection. It was break, so nobody would miss them and search for them.

* * *

Kowalski searched for Professor Samantha, oddly enough, he found her in the nursery. The nursery was a place where new eggs were placed. If parents wanted their children to be taken care of, or if there were no parents to care for the egg than they were sent to the nursery. In it, the eggs rested peacefully in their own little incubators, cared for by a sweet elderly penguin named Miss. Annabel. She picked up the eggs in turn and spoke to them, telling them about her day, reading them stories, and explaining basic things to them, like the penguin credo. Professor Samantha was talking to Annabel; in her flippers was one of the eggs from the nursery. Kowalski instantly felt suspicious about this, and felt that he needed to do something about it, but he knew that the others were relying on him to keep Professor Samantha busy. He toboggans over to her, thinking all the while about yanking the egg from her flippers.

"Err, umm, hello Professor Samantha!" calls Kowalski trying to think of something reasonable to talk about.

"Oh, hello Kowalski!" says Professor Samantha turning. Miss Annabel looks at him giving him a warm smile.

"So you are the famous Kowalski." She says, "I have heard so much about you and about how very smart you are." Kowalski smiles modestly, giving off a sort of cough/laugh.

"That's very kind of you." he says remembering that it was the same phrase that Michelle used whenever somebody praised her.

"You're quite welcome." Responds Annabel.

"Did you need something Kowalski?" asks Professor Samantha. She cradles the egg, giving Kowalski a topic of conversation.

"What's its name?" he asks pointing to the egg.

"Well, that little one doesn't have a name yet as we don't know whether it is a boy or a girl yet." Replies Annabel "His uncle Nigel will tell us what he wants to name it when we find out."

Kowalski walks closer to get a better look of the egg. It was a rich, creamy white. He couldn't believe that inside that small egg was another penguin like him, who would also one day hope to do the right thing, try to do good, everything that he and his team worked for. He wondered if perhaps he would ever meet him/her.

A loud crash snapped him out of his thoughts. It was more than a crash; it was an explosion that shook the entire building. Professor Samantha grabs wildly at the egg that slips from her flippers. Kowalski jumps despite the tremors on the ground and catches it right before the fragile shell hits the hard ground. He sights in relief and clutches the egg closer to him as the roof crumbles all around him.

* * *

Skipper and Rico walk to the hallway where the teachers slept. If they had heard right, than Professor Samantha's office was room 376. Skipper turns the knob on the door, hoping against reason that it would be open. He knew that they had to hurry; of course Kowalski would be able to keep Professor Samantha busy, but the less amount of time they spent there the less chances of them being caught.

"Blast! The door's locked." Whispers Skipper. Rico smiles and coughs up a paper clip. Skipper stares at him skeptically.

"Rico this is no time-" Rico holds up a flipper as he unbends the clip and puts it to the door lock. He turns and jiggles it a bit, putting his ear close until he hears a sharp click. He smiles deviously as he opens the door.

"Hu," Says Skipper walking in "so it's been you all this time who smuggles the cupcakes from the kitchen's pantry."

Skipper looks around the room. It seemed very simple, not much different from their own rooms, though it seemed a bit more sophisticated.

"Kay, Rico, you know what to do." He says pointing his flipper around the room. Rico nods and instantly begins searching along Skipper for any evidence.

"Remember Rico, even the smallest of dust particles could be solid proof, be on the lookout fo-sweet mackerel! Rico! Don't eat that." Skipper smacks a box of chocolates away from Rico who had seconds before been devouring them. Rico look sadly down at the chocolates on the floor and was about to bend down to pick them up but Skipper gives him an angry glare. Rico sights and goes back to searching. Skipper gives a satisfied nod and begins searching through the drawers. Rico takes advantage of his distraction by quietly going to eat the rest of the chocolates.

"Aha!" exclaims Skipper holding up holding up a picture of Professor Samantha. In it she stood smiling at the camera hugging a young penguin. Somehow she looked familiar. Skipper squints to see better. Rico comes over to see.

"Wait a minute," gasps Skipper "that's-" The explosion shakes the room. Skipper and Rico dive to the floor as they had been taught. All around them the loud roar of the blast echoed, shaking the walls, and throwing the furniture around. The mirror from the bureau falls and Skipper dives away in time to avoid being hit. Unluckily in his haste he drops the picture frame and it's shattered underneath it. Rico crawls towards Skipper to see if he's all right. He sights in relief to see that Skipper was still in one piece.

"We have to get out of here!" yells Skipper "We're under attack!" Rico nods and jumps up, trying to keep his balance. The floor underneath him quivers and he falls. A second detonation sounds, even louder this time and a large fragment of the roof breaks, Rico directly underneath it.

* * *

Kowalski waited for the building to stop shaking. The second explosion didn't help. He clutches the egg to him and tries to take a look around. Professor Samantha was not there anymore! A bit farther off from where he was he could see Miss. Annabel trying to stand up despite the shaking. Kowalski considers options. If the ground was shaking despite the fact the explosion was over it could only mean one thing. The loud crack the floor makes confirms his suspicions.

"Miss. Annabel, you have to lay down on the ground!" he tries calling to the elder, but she doesn't hear him. Kowalski realizes that she was trying to get to the nursery. Not good. The floor crumbles, taking the ruble from the roof with it, and along the way, Miss. Annabel. She grabs on to the edge of the floor, dangling helplessly.

"Hold still!" calls Kowalski "I'm coming." He crawls towards her slowly, trying to avoid the fallen pieces of the roof. The building stops shaking, Kowalski doesn't. He nears Miss. Annabel her eyes wide with fright. He holds out his flipper to her and she grabs on to it. He grinds his beak in effort, realizing that he had to let go of the egg. It rolls dangerously close to the hole; Kowalski pulls harder trying to get Miss. Annabel up. He was too small, Miss. Annabel gasps as she falls lower down into the hole, the rock floor so far away. How could he pull her up when he himself was being dragged down? A flashback comes to him. _Blowhole and Annie were still fighting. Too mad to care, Annie had led both of them directly to the plane's door. Blowhole grabs on to her and they both fall. Kowalski stands frozen to the spot, he can't think, there's nothing to do. _Kowalski's face sets in determination and he pulls with strength he didn't know he had. He finally gets Miss. Annabel out of the hole. She looks at him surprised; Kowalski sits panting, and the egg rolls even closer to the hole. Kowalski gasps and jumps with the last bit of strength has, grabs on to the egg, saving it from falling into the deep opening. Miss. Annabel stands shakily and goes to help him up.

"Thank-you so much." She says to him. Kowalski nods quickly there were more important things to do right now.

"Where's Professor Samantha?" he ask, practically gasping. Miss. Annabel looks around confused.

"Maybe she's in the nursery?" she walks into the nursery Kowalski following behind. The nursery room was in ruins. Miss. Annabel gasps and runs to check on the incubators to check on the eggs but stops on her tracks. Row after row of incubators, so many they could have filled their own classroom, all sat empty.

"What happened?' whispers Miss. Annabel. Kowalski whips out his handy notepad.

"I believe that we are witnessing the crime scene of a well though-out kidnapping plan. The loud explosion we heard earlier might have just been used as a distraction."

Miss. Annabel appears to not even be listening. She stands in her spot so still that Kowalski becomes worried and goes to her.

"Umm, should I get Commander Makenzi?" he asks. Miss. Annabel nods. He toboggans out of the room, leaving her behind, forgetting completely the egg he still held.

* * *

Can ya'll guess who that egg is? Will Rico be hit by the piece of roof? Will Kowalski be able to track down the missing eggs? Where is Proffessor Samantha? And who was that girl in the picture? find out (perhaps) in the next chapter !;)


	12. Finding the Unexpected

Yeah! kay, sorry this took so long. School and all, i swear it's a conspiracy XD. Anywho, probably this will be the 2nd to last chapter. Thank-you to Sewswim (Samantha), Annabel, and Michelle735 letting me use their names, you guys ROCK!

* * *

_[just a heads up, an explosion has shaken the school, Kowalski has left Miss. Annabel to go look for Skipper and Rico who are in Proffesor Samantha's room looking for evidence of her being a kidnapper. A big chunk of roog is about to crush Rico and this is where we resume. Enjoy]_

Ch 11 Finding the Unexpected

Skipper shoves Rico away roughly in time. The piece of floor breaks asunder behind him, making a loud crashing sound.

"Are you all right?" asks Skipper. Rico nods and stands up looking around. The room was ruined. Pieces of furniture scattered across the floor, crumbled walls, and crushed dust from the roof.

"What was all that?" asks Skipper. Rico shrugs his shoulders and begins making his way across the jumbled mess that littered the floor. Skipper follows him, the evidence to bust Professor Samantha could wait, right now they had another case on hand.

* * *

Kowalski runs to Professor Samantha's room. There was a 67% chance that Skipper and Rico had come unharmed out of the explosion, if he had calculated right, it had come from the west side of the building, while they were on the far south. He worried that if the explosion had, than, come from the west side, than there would be more damage than simple material items. The west wing was where the girl's dormitories were. He turns the hallway, almost falling flat on his face over an unidentified object.

**Skipper sees that the broken bureau bars the door. He turns to Rico. **

**"Let's see how efficient British "bangers" are, shall we?" **

**Rico nods happily, coughing up a stick of dynamite.**

Kowalski regains his balance quickly and keeps running, not paying any attention to the object. He looks at the doors in the hallway as he passes them, muttering to himself, looking for room 376.

"_365, 366, 367…_"

He was so close. **Rico lights a match**

"_368, 369, 370…_"**He watches while the bright spark nears the bottom of the stem.**

"_371, 372, 373…_"Just a few more. **Rico throws the dynamite and dives down.**

"_374, 375,376!_" He throws his flipper onto the doorknob. **Skipper bends down behind the upturned bed.**

"Why won't-" **The spark nears the last bit of the stem.**

"Skipper!" **Rico gasps upon hearing Kowalski and runs to the dynamite.**

_The spark is millimeters away._ **Rico grasps his flipper around the dynamite. **

_**So deafening, so piercing was the sound that Kowalski stood shocked, and Skipper sat paralyzed. The wall blew off, flying pieces of it everywhere. And Rico. Cheerful, explosive loving Rico. Skipper runs to him, so afraid he can't think straight. Kowalski pounds on the door, the egg beside him.**_

**_"Skipper!" calls Kowalski_**

**_"Rico!" he and Skipper call at the same time. _**

**_They hear only one thing. The only thing in the world that made this moment seem like it wasn't real. How could it? An explosion, Kowalski only knew that his friends were behind that door, Skipper only knew that Rico had held the dynamite before it went off, and all they could hear was one thing. Could it be? _**

**_____________________________________________________________________**

Rico's gleeful laughter filled the room.

_____________________________________________________________________

Kowalski grabs the egg, finally remembering that he still had it with him.

"Skipper! Open the door." He knocks on the door, trying to shove through it. He didn't like being behind closed doors with his team on the other side. It reminded him of what had happened the last time.

"Can't, the bureau's blocking it." Answers Skipper "We'll have to go through the wall Rico blew away. We're not sure where it leads to but we'll get out. Wait for us here." Kowalski hears Skipper and Rico's footsteps getting farther and farther away. He sights and leans back against the wall and takes out his notepad to consider options. He sets the egg beside him to write but stops when he sees it. He looks at it. Oh, it was so cute, so young and innocent. So vulnerable, so breakable. Kowalski gasps. He was in a hallway, by himself, with an egg. How- what- but- he –Oh no. He had never learned how to care for an egg. What was he supposed to do? Didn't it have to be kept warm? Perhaps he could take it back to Miss. Annabel. Yes, he could do that. He gathers the egg into his flippers carefully but stops in his tracks. He couldn't go to the nursery, he had to wait for Skipper and Rico, if they didn't find him they might get worried. But than, that meant that he would have to stay, there, with the egg. And take care of it, by himself…? Kowalski groans and sits back against the wall cradling the egg.

He waits for a few minutes until he hears footsteps coming towards him. He presses himself against the wall, ready to run in case it was a teacher, because after all, he wasn't allowed to be there. Although it might also be Skipper and Rico. But it was only one set of footsteps. Perhaps Skipper had sent Rico to look for him while he stayed and did whatever it was they were doing. The steps draw nearer.

"Kowalski?" he sighed in relief recognizing the voice.

"Hello." He says a bit awkward.

"What are you doing here?" Michelle looks at him suspiciously, her eyes darting from the room number to the egg he held.

"Umm, I wanted to talk to Professor Samantha, she was at the nursery but than the explosion, and she lost the egg, so I have it and I'm looking for Skipper and Rico, and maybe Professor Samantha, so have you seen them?" Kowalski had forgotten to plan out his excuse in case someone found him in the hallway. Michelle smiles at him.

"No, I haven't seen them. I came here to find you, I was a bit worried."

"Really?" asks Kowalski. He didn't know what to say. On the one hand was her not seeing Skipper or Rico yet, which meant that they probably hadn't found their way back to him. Than there was the part where she said, had she really said…that she was worried about him? Well, after all, she was assigned as their tour guide so he assumed that if anything happened to them she would probably be blamed.

"Where did you get that egg?" asks Michelle. Collecting himself he figured that he could tell the truth in this part, after all, what would be wrong about what had happened?

"Professor Samantha dropped it during the explosion. I forgot all about it because I was trying to find Skipper and Rico." Michelle nods.

"And why are you here?" there was a bit of an edge to her voice. What was that? Anger? Joy? Kowalski figured it was just his nerves.

"I hear some noises here, so I thought I might find them here." He lied smoothly. Michelle seemed skeptical but doesn't question him.

"Do you want me to help you with that?" she asks pointing to the egg. Kowalski hands it over glad that he no longer had to worry about it. There was some smugness in Michelle's eyes as she lad the way out of the teacher's hallway. Realizing that he wasn't following she turns confused.

"Aren't you coming?" she asks. Kowalski realizes that if he didn't want to arouse suspicion he would have to go. Perhaps he would find Skipper along the way.

* * *

**Skipper walks down the hallway. He had never been here before, and he didn't like it. Rico looked around equally confused. Luckily the hallway went straight down, so there was no way they could get lost. Unfortunately, it seemed like it would take a while to reach the door at the end. There were no windows, so it was dark, something that didn't help out much. Their footsteps echoed along the walls, Oddly enough, this area seemed unaffected by the explosion. Rico whimpers and coughs up a flashlight. Skipper nods in approval at him. They keep walking. And walking. Well, now they seemed to be closer to the door. They toboggan for a while than resume walking.**

**Perhaps they should have simply stayed to move the bureau out of the way. **

* * *

Kowalski walks alongside Michelle. There was something bugging him. Of course, it could be that he was walking alongside a girl who held an egg on her flippers, or it could be that there had been an unexplainable attack to the school, but he still felt that something was off.

"How did you know where to find me?" asks Kowalski suddenly. Michelle looks at him confused.

"I just, I don't know…call it a hunch." It was Kowalski's turn to look skeptical, though he follows her lead without questioning her. He could trust Michelle, after all, why would she want to do anything against them? More relaxed, Kowalski keeps walking. Than he realizes that he had no idea where they were going.

"Umm…Michelle?" he asks, "Where are we going?" Michelle answers with out even looking at him.

"Don't worry, I know my way around." All feeling of easy leaves Kowalski, still, he follows Michelle. Why? Why indeed.

They round a corner, and Kowalski realizes that he had been tricked. It was a dead end, no way forward. He turns and sees Michelle blocking his path. No way back.

* * *

**Skipper reaches the door. Rico sights in relief. Finally. On the other side they can hear lots of voices. Skipper opens the door cautiously and finds himself back in the lunchroom. The students were all sitting under the tables as they had been taught to do. The teachers were standing talking to themselves, their expressions looking calm, yet it was obvious that they were worried.**

**"Rico, stay here." Commands Skipper**

**Skipper runs to the nearest one, the math teacher Professor Kenny, oddly enough. **

**"Professor! What was that bang we heard?" Professor Kenny looks at him sadly. **

**"We'll tell you in a few minutes, for now I need you two to get under a table in case of another attack." Skipper knew better than to argue. Tetchily, he goes to back to the door when he was sure no one was looking. Rico sits next to him giving him a puzzled look. **

**" Kowalski?" he asks. Skipper shakes his head.**

**"First we have to wait till the coast is clear, Rico. But we'll find him." Rico doesn't look too happy but he settles next to him. An instructor goes to the center of the cafeteria and claps his fins loudly. It was Professor Kenny.**

**"Boys, Girls." He begins. The place instantly becomes quiet. "Please remain calm, you have been trained for this kind of occasion and so I trust that you will be able to handle the truth." Skipper turns and finds that Rico is gone.**

* * *

Kowalski faces Michelle. What was he going to do? He couldn't fight. He definetly couldn't fight against a girl either, that was just plain wrong. Michelle puts the egg down beside her casually.

"Ummm…Michele?" asks Kowalski nervously "there seems to be nowhere to go from this location." Michelle looks at him. Was that …guilt?

"Kowalski, I have been trying to tell you this for a while." A red blush arouses in Michelle's cheeks "I don't really know if I'll ever get another chance to tell you this so, ummm, I decided I might as well try." Kowalski was confused.

"Try what?" he asks. Was this what he thought it was?

* * *

**"As most of you have noticed, we were recently attacked. We're not sure who it was, but we will find out. The hallway to the girl's dormitories is blocked, though we…hope that no one was in there at the time." There was an edge to Professor Kenny's voice "We've made a head count and, on the bright side everyone present is uninjured. On the not so bright side, we have two pupils missing, one instructor, and all of the eggs from the nursery." The students in the cafeteria look at each other worried. **

**"Who are the ones missing?" asks a young boy that Skipper recognized as Blue. Professor Kenny looks at the boy and sights.**

**"Kowalski, Michelle, and Professor Samantha." The penguins murmur amounts each other. Skipper's confused.**

**"That's impossible. We just saw Kowalski, and Michelle, well…Of course!" Skipper jumps out of the hallway, revealing the secret entrance. It was so obvious he could kick himself for not having noticed before. All of the evidence had been in front of him all this while!**

**"Professor Kenny!" he calls "I know who the culprit is!" **

* * *

Michelle takes a deep breath.

"Kowalski, I …I, I really like you."

Kowalski stares. His mind took a few seconds to register what had just been said. He looks at Michelle skeptically. She was kidding right?

"You…like me?" he asks, waiting for her to laugh and say "Gotcha!" or something that would make this confusing situation make sense. There was no way...the amount of time they had know each other, the way she acted, she had called him a swot for heaven's sake! how could she like him?

Michelle nods. Kowalski steps back unconsciously.

"Umm…I find that very flattering," he says holding his flippers up as a barrier "but, well, I don't, this is…" Michelle watches him, her eyes seemed to be trying to see inside him. Kowalski clamps his beak down to stop himself from making a bigger fool of himself.

"I understand." She says looking down. She steps aside and lets him walk past. Kowalski goes by awkwardly looking at her, not sure whether he should apologize, or stay, or whether any of this was actually really happening. He turns to face forward, and for a split second, the strangest of sights flashes. Something was coming towards him, was it a bat? Why was it…and than it hits him.

* * *

_Rico had gone past Skipper while he was listening to Professor Kenny's speech. He knew that Kowalski was still waiting for them. He runs down to the teacher's hallway. It was a lot faster now that they were out of that hallway. He encounters no one as he goes by, which both assured and worried him. He gets to the place where Kowalski was supposed to be waiting for them and finds it empty. Where could Kowalski be?_

* * *

**"It was Michelle!" calls Skipper. The students watch him as if he had gone insane. "She's not here because she took all of the eggs, it was her!" Professor Kenny places his flipper on Skipper's shoulder.**

**"At ease soldier." He says "This is a troubling enough time without false accusations flying through the air." Skipper glares at the professor. How dumb could he be? It was obvious that Michelle had done it. Why else would she be missing? **

**"But-"**

**"No back-sassing." Says Professor Kenny firmly "go sit under the table like you were previously instructed, and try not to be so restless." Skipper stares shocked. Had he actually been reprimanded? Him? But he was always right, or at least most of the time. Why in the world would this teacher not believe him? Skipper gasps.**

**"You're part of it too!" he cries. Swiftly releasing himself from Professor Kenny's grip he runs to the door. Professor Kenny stares at him angrily as he goes into the door that no student was supposed to know about. He rushes to get Skipper but he had already shut the door, which had no knob on the outside. **

* * *

_Rico sniffs at the floor. He had always had an unusually acute sense of smell. He smelled around a bit before he caught on Kowalski's scent. There was another smell too; someone else had been there. Rico follows the trail determined to find his friend. The scent led him down a hallway. He hears some noises ahead so he presses himself against the wall and nears quietly. He gets his gut ready in case of emergency chain saw need. I front of him sits an egg. Looking around he gingerly picks it up. It was cold, worried, Rico thinks of the only alternative for keeping it warm. He swallows the egg, sure that it would be warm inside his stomach, after all, among the things that he kept in there he had some pillows. He keeps walking down the hallway, hearing what sounded like something being dragged. He jumps back when he sees Michelle holding onto Kowalski's flippers dragging him along the floor. Kowalski seemed to be unconscious. Rico goes to him and kneels down feeling for a pulse. He sights in relief to find one. He turns to look suspiciously at Michelle. She looks at him with tear filled eyes and runs to embrace him after placing Kowalski gently on the floor. _

_"Oh Rico!" she sobs, Rico tries to back up but she had a strong grip on him "I tried to stop her but she got him first. Than she ran away, I couldn't stop her, I didn't want to leave him alone." Rico felt very uncomfortable. What was he supposed to say? He had never been the talkative what was she talking about? So, at a loss of anything else to do Rico pries Michelle off of him and goes to check on Kowalski once more. There was a very large bump on his head. Rico coughs up a bag of ice and places it on his head. He turns to Michelle._

_"Get help," he tells her. Michelle shakes her head. _

_"I have to stay with him, please Rico, I can't bear knowing that he's here and I'm not with him." Rico gives her an odd look. Had he missed something? But, if that's what she wanted, this was after all, no time to argue. Rico stands and toboggans down the hall again, leaving Michelle and Kowalski behind._

* * *

**Skipper runs down the hallway. There was no one he could trust. If he was correct, than the only ones left that he might be able to rely on was his team, but where the heck were they? Obviously, Rico had gone to find Kowalski, so there was only one place where he could have gone. He turns the hallway towards the teacher's rooms and smack into someone else. Take by surprise, Skipper grabs the other penguins by the flipper and flips him over, trying to slam him against the wall. The other penguin seems to have already been through this routine because it turns halfway through the air and, propelling himself by kicking his feet against the wall, he knocks Skipper over sideways. Skipper huffs angrily and turns around, ready to kick the living daylights out of whomever was attacking him but stops when he sees Rico's angry face. Skipper gasps. **

**"Rico?" **

* * *

Kowalski opens his eyes. What had happened? He didn't remember getting there, or even how…how, wait a minute, hadn't there been something, a bat in fact, hadn't there been a bat coming towards him? He sits up looking around. His head hurt, and when he touched the source of the pain with his flipper he felt a shar throbbing. The room seemed familiar, a lot like his room, only…girlier? Pink flowers adorned a bunk bed, which stood next to a dresser full of various perfumes and other girl accessories. Kowalski could see his eyes grow wide on the full-size mirror that stood against the wall. Or at least, one of his eyes, because the other one was blocked by a bar. For the first time in his life, Kowalski finds out how incredibly uncomfortable cages were.

* * *

**Realization goes across Rico's eyes as he releases his grip on Skipper. He gives off a nervous chuckle as he looks at Skipper, who seemed equally surprised.**

**"Did you find Kowalski?" asks Skipper brushing the dust off of his feathers. Rico nods and leads him back to where he had left him. They run as fast as they can, hoping that nothing bad had happened.**

**"Is he all right?" asks Skipper as they run. **

**"Ungh." Replies Rico. Skipper runs even faster. They turn to meet the dead end. The small space was empty. Skipper turns to face Rico.**

**"So where is he?" **

**"Exactly what I would like to know." Skipper and Rico turn to face Michelle. She seemed very mad, her eyes narrowed. **

**"What?" Skipper resists the urge to back up; it wouldn't do to let her know that he was terrified. **

**"The egg." She says coming closer "the egg that was left here. Where is it?" **

**"We don't-"**

**"Liar!" screeches Michelle. She pushes Skipper aside and glares at Rico, who shrinks under her gaze. **

**"You know where it is, don't you?" Rico doesn't like the way her eyes seem to be trying to make him drop dead on the spot. Of course, he had the egg, but would he hand it over to her? Did she even know that he did have it?**

**Rico shakes his head.**

**"Don't you-"**

**"Whoa!" Skipper shoves his way between her and Rico "We don't have your silly little egg, and Rico here would never lower himself to even look at one. As far as I see it should be us interrogating you." Michelle stares at him stunned "Where is Kowalski?" he asks. Michelle stares at him, than her eyes begin to water again. Skipper stares incredulous as she begins to sob.**

**"I tried, but she took him. Really. He was carrying an egg and he asked me to help him with it, but now it's gone and so is he. I'm so sorry!" Michelle stares at them with large guilty eyes. Skipper and Rico stare at each other unsure of what to do. Rico stood uncomfortable and full of pity. Skipper stood with indecision and anger. **

**"Don't play innocent Michelle." Skipper walks forward, his eyes determined "I know it was you who set off a bomb, stole all of the eggs, and kidnapped Kowalski." Michelle looks at him with serious confusion in her eyes.**

**"Why would I do that?" she asks. Rico makes a questioning sound too. **

**"None of this." Snaps Skipper "I saw-" Rico jumps in alarm from his spot. Behind him stood Professor Samantha with an angry look on her face. In her flippers she held a bat. **

* * *

Kowalski looks around. Was he really…was he really…(he gulps as the truth hits him) he was. Kowalski was in the girl's dormitories. The horror of the situation makes him gulp once more, surveying his surroundings. He stops surveying though, when he realizes a greater horror before him. Carelessly placed upon boxes, some seeming to be defying gravity from how overflowing the boxes stood, the pearly white shells of the penguin eggs sat. They seemed so lonely, so cold in their cardboard boxes that Kowalski unconsciously stretched his flippers out towards them in an effort to comfort them. Unfortunately, he was in no greater position than them. How had he gotten there? There was no on in the room, the place seemed completely deserted. There was not a single sound besides his own breathing, surprisingly. Even from their hallway, Kowalski and the other boys could always hear the constant chirping of the girls as they walked to and from their rooms. Now, there was a deep quiet that sent cold shivers go down Kowalski's spine. He had to get out of there. The lock seemed to be simple enough; a paperclip would easily do the trick. He looks around but finds nothing close enough, though there was another cage beside him. He assumed they were saving that for someone else; he hoped that it wasn't who he thought they were. He decides to take out his notepad to consider options but it wasn't under his wing where he usually kept it. His flippers move around blindly searching in the empty air. Kowalski shakes the bars, feeling their weight. Those bars were so sturdy that instead of them shaking it was him who shook himself. Those bars weren't going to budge. Kowalski felt very jealous of Rico at the time, a stick of dynamite would have really helped at the moment.

He looks around the room, what he needed was to get something small enough, or sturdy enough to get through the lock. The only alternative seemed to be to somehow get to the bureau and search for say, a Bobbi pin. How though? He couldn't lift the cage, or get out of it so than, what could he use? Or do? Or, or, or… Kowalski sits down on the cold cage floor with a sight. It was going to be hard without his clipboard.

His clipboard. Where was it? And, more importantly, now that he remembered, how _had _he gotten there? The bat, well, that was the last thing he could remember, and he hadn't seen who had hit him. He had, however, been with Michelle. Michelle! Where was she? Was she okay? Oh, not good. Kowalski searches around the room, hoping to maybe see her next to the bureau, or leaning against the pink bunk beds. Of course, he finds no one else besides the eggs. What if she was hurt? Unless, it had been her who hit him…? But where would she have gotten the bat? And hadn't she admitted to him that she liked him? He was no expert in girls but he was sure that they didn't beat you with a bat after they admitted to having an attraction to you…did they? If she hadn't been the one to hit him (he had finally decided that Michelle doing that was next to impossible, this was honor student Michelle) than perhaps she had been taken too. But where?

So many questions! Kowalski slaps himself trying to clear his mind. It seemed that the more he got the more questions came up. Skipper had already warned him about being too analytical and here he was, going in circles with questions that led nowhere. But than what was he to do? How would…where was…who had…why even…

Kowalski slaps himself again, so hard that he surprises himself. He looks at the eggs. He had to protect them. He had to find Michelle. He had to find his team and crack the case, and find Professor Samantha, and find out who set the bomb off, and why they had even done that. So many things to do it made his head spin. Yet he realized, that one way or another, he had to get out of the cage. He resisted the urge to slap himself as his mind completed the circle of thoughts, taking him back to the main question. How?

* * *

**"You three come with me." Says Professor Samantha. Her eyes were red around the rims, her usual air of nonchalance was gone and now she stood in front of them, the bat in her flippers shaking. There was something forced in her voice, though there was also a sort of plead. Skipper and Rico figured that she had probably just gone insane. Skipper watches haughtily at her.**

**"Rico." He commands with a single word. Rico coughs up the chainsaw he had been preparing before, a memento from a woodcutting field trip back at the Base. He pulls the rope and it instantly roars to life. Professor Samantha's eyes go wide at the sight. Michelle gasps. Skipper smiles smugly.**

**"So you were saying." He says looking at her evenly. Professor Samantha looks at them eyes now completely replaced with fear. She backs up as Rico steps closer. Michele jumps in front of him suddenly, blocking his path. **

**"Don't!" she yells over the sound of the saw "She's the one who took Kowalski." She turns to Professor Samantha, whose eyes get impossibly more fearful, but she regains her composure and glares at them.**

**"That's right" she says "and I'll be sure that you _never_ find him unless you come with me." Rico looks at Skipper who nods grimly. Rico lowers the chainsaw a dejected expression on his face. Micelle looks at Professor Samantha and does what was surely a very stupid move.**

**"Well, it doesn't matter because Rico here can just throw-up things for us to get free." There was a certain emphasis in her words, some forcefulness that simply didn't fit. Professor Samantha looks at her and nods. **

**"Rico give me some rope." She holds out her flipper as Rico gives her a skeptical look. She glares at him with such force though that he shrinks back and hands her a lengthy piece of rope. She than begins to tie them up. Skipper grinds his beak at the idea of being so helpless, but he had to make sure to get Kowalski back. They follow in line with tight knots keeping them from doing anything but take small steps. It was obvious that even if Rico did manage to cough up something they would still be incapable of using it. Professor Samantha leads them into another door that blended into the wall. She places the tip of her flipper into an infinitesimal cranny on it and opens it, giving the illusion of opening a door shaped hole on the wall. They follow grudgingly, Skipper glaring at Michelle all the while. She looks at him innocently. **

**"I know you're working with her." He growls softly enough so that only she hears him. She gives him another naive look shaking her head. Professor Samantha gives a sharp pull of the rope and they follow more quickly. Rico gives an unexpected giggle, squirming a bit inside his rope cacoon. Skipper looks at him confused, but Rico doesn't pay attention to him. A door opens ahead of them and they find themselves in a girl's dormitory. The eggs were stacked one upon another in a boxes, in a cage beside them sat Kowalski. He was busy trying to use a wire to pick the lock. Beside him lay a broken stuffed flower, where he had obviously gotten it. Professor Samantha gaps and goes to take the wire from him. Kowalski gives a guilty look and stands miserably. **

**"In" says Professor Samantha opening the cage beside his. Kowalski looks up both surprised and troubled that they were there. Skipper tries to give a reassuring look as he walks in. Rico and Michelle follow behind, not looking as optimistic as him. Skipper glares at Michelle and turns to face Kowalski.**

**"Keep an eye on her," he mutters so that she doesn't hear "she's not on our side." Kowalski looks at him doubtfully. Skipper silently signals that he wasn't kidding. **

**"That doesn't coincide." Kowalski whispers, the confession she had made to him still in his mind. Skipper raises his eyebrow. Since when did Kowalski not believe him?**

**"Is that insubordination I hear soldier?" he growls narrowing his eyes. Kowalski realizes that perhaps it would be a better idea to agree with Skipper, even if the odds pointed against him.**

**"Michelle, you're coming with me." Professor Samantha yanks Michelle out of the cage and throws her back out into the hallway they had come in from, throwing in something after her that they didn't quite make out. She goes to the boxes and takes out a notepad. Skipper and Rico look at Kowalski, who smacks his forehead, wincing in pain as he hits his already painful bump. They turn back to see Professor Samantha who walks out into the hallway and slams the door behind her. Rico coughs loudly, giving another chuckle. If they didn't know better they would have believed that someone was tickling him. Kowalski and Skipper look at him. **

**"You okay Rico?" asks Skipper. Rico nods, and coughs again.**

**"All right, than…" says Skipper "any options?" Kowalski looks down, not meeting his gaze, Rico nods and coughs up a flamethrower. He looks down at it sadly. He and Skipper were tied up tightly so they couldn't turn it on. Kowalski wasn't tied, but he was inside another cage. Skipper bends down, trying to pull the trigger with his beak but he stumbles and falls on his face. Rico gives another loud cough. Skipper looks up at him worried.**

**"Are you sure-" he stops when Rico coughs up something else, placing it carefully down on the floor so as to not damage it. Skipper and Kowalski look at it with dismay. The small egg moves, cracking down the middle, and suddenly they can see a small face look up at them. It looks up at them curiously with big blue eyes, even more vivid than Skipper's. The chick stumbles out of its shell clumsily, ruffling its light gray feathers, looking up at them happily.**

**"Hello there." He says in an adorable penguin baby voice. The same British accent that the people had there sounded in each syllable. Skipper, Rico, and Kowalski stare dumbfounded.**

* * *


	13. Completing

Last chapter. *sniff* i had a lot of fun writting this, and you all were so amazing. I'm actually sad to finish this. A big FAT thanks to Michelle735, Sewswim (Samantha), Dark Archer (Makenzi), and my friend Annabel for letting me borrow their names =)

* * *

Ch12 Completing

The small chick looks at each of them smiling with a vivid smile that was very out of place considering the situation.

"Rico?" asks Skipper looking at him questioningly. Rico gives a nervous chuckle and begins trying to explain everything.

"Hibbertaboglingrte loreghtues serpofesra. Boglyboglebebluobeonee." He says rapidly. Skipper listens to him, his eyes getting wider every second. Kowalski also listens, putting two and two together.

"That's the egg that I was holding." He says from his cage; Skipper and Rico turn to him, the chick also listening. "I forgot all about it so I ran to find you but by the time I realized I had it with me it was too late. Than Michelle showed up and offered to carry it for me. We got to the hallway and something hit me. After that I'm guessing is when Rico showed up and found the egg." Skipper's left eye twitched. The chick looks at him and backs up, nervous of his expression; behind him Rico also steps back. Skipper seems to be trying to hold back but it was obvious that his anger was going to win.

"You-brought-an-egg-into-this?" he manages to say through his gritted beak. Neither Kowalski nor Rico answer or look at him. The chick shrinks back, going to stand behind Rico, frightened by Skipper. Still, Skipper wasn't done yet; he stands and begins pacing around.

"This entire mission is in jeopardy! We can't even manage to get out of here, and if we do somehow get out we'll have this vulnerable chick tagging along after us." His words were calm and collected, if they didn't know better they would have thought he was just lecturing them, but they knew that there was a lot more rage inside Skipper than he was showing. The chick walks out from behind Rico bravely. Rico tries to hold him back but he keeps walking, nearing Skipper. Skipper glares at the small chick with an aggravated expression. The chick trips over the flamethrower on his way, falling hard on his beak. Skipper groans and looks away. The chick stands and looks down. Rico goes to it and, since he was tied up, he only gives him what he hoped was a consoling smile. Kowalski looks from the chick to the flamethrower. An idea forms in his head. But perhaps it was too risky; this was a new hatchling, after all. It was dangerous, but if they stayed perhaps they would be worst off. He clears his throat, which felt dry and raspy.

"Ummm…Skipper?" he asks. Skipper turns to him. It was obvious that he was still frustrated.

"Perhaps the chick, I mean…well, perhaps it-he" he corrects himself as the chick looks at him hopefully "perhaps he could be of help to us." Skipper glares at the chick but doesn't stop him.

"I'm listening." He says gruffly. Kowalski hopes that this won't be another bad idea of his.

"Well, you and Rico are both tied up so you can't turn on the flamethrower" Skipper's expression changes as he begins catching on to what Kowalski was saying "so than maybe he could do it for you." Skipper looks at the small chick who does his best to stand to his full height. A small smile plays on Skipper's beak, the chick smiling fully back at him.

"All right," replies Skipper. He stands straight much as the general did and looks down at the chick. "Are you willing to intake on this mission private?" The chick nods fiercely, also standing straight. Skipper tries to hold back laughter at the serious expression on his small face. "Rico here will tell you everything you need to do." Rico goes to the chick excitedly and begins blabbing rapidly in his own language. The chick listens carefully, and once Rico was done, he grabs the flamethrower with full confidence. It was quite a ridiculous sight. A chick, not even a day old, holding a flamethrower that was practically twice his size. The chick pulls the trigger and a large ball of flames shoots out of the gun, melting the bars on the spot. The bright flames illuminate his small face, which was both set in determination, and a bit afraid. Rico looks at the chick proudly, cheering at his efficient gun maneuvering, Kowalski smiles cheerfully, and even Skipper couldn't hold back a surge of amusement going through him. The chick turns off the gun and looks at the hole that he had made on the bars proudly. He turns to look at Skipper with a hopeful expression.

"Well done…" says Skipper realizing that he didn't know is name "what's your name?" he asks. The chick shrugs his shoulders. "Private." Finishes Skipper "Does Private work for you?" the chick-Private- smiles happily nodding his head.

"What can I help you on now?" he asks. Rico coughs up a knife and hands it to him.

"You can start by untying us." Replies Skipper.

* * *

Once they were all untied and out of their cages, four penguins made their way to the boxes. They had to get the rest of the eggs out of there.

"Kowalski, options." Says Skipper. Rico coughs up a clipboard. Kowalski stares at him in surprise. He looks down at the clipboard. It seemed so much like his old one. He takes out his pencil and begins to write down quickly, felling the familiarity of the paper against the hard wood.

"We can-"

The secret door opens and in walks Professor Samantha looking shaken and as if she had been crying. The penguins dive behind the boxes to avoid being seen. She sees the empty cages and her eyes grow wide. Behind her Michelle walks in and also sees what was going on. She wasn't tied up anymore, a luggage cart on her flippers. When she realized that they were gone her fake sad look left her and was replaced by fury.

"You prat!" she says harshly, slapping Professor Samantha. The penguins stare confused "I thought I made it clear that they could escape, so why didn't you tie them up right?" Professor Samantha shrinks back from Michelle's angry gaze. Michelle walks up to her threateningly.

"You have better find them or your son will be paying the prize. Understand?" she says. Her British accent was gone. Professor Samantha's eyes water and she nods her head. Michelle throws the luggage cart at her and turns to leave the room.

"Get all of those eggs on the helicopter on time too." She snaps. Professor Samantha nods quickly places a box of eggs on the cart. Skipper and Kowalski shrink back. They were hiding behind the next box.

"Move out man!" calls Skipper. They hesitate a bit in following his orders but they jump out of their hiding spots either way, knowing that he had a plan on mind. Private imitates what they do, falling only a little bit behind, but ending in a pretty good pose for his first time. Professor Samantha looks at them, and she no longer looks so vulnerable. She glares at them, ready to capture them and shut them back in their cages.

"Hold up `mam." Says Skipper holding up his flipper. Professor Samantha still glares but listens to him. "We can help you. We overheard what Michelle told you, and we assure you that all you have to do is let us help you." Professor Samantha shakes her head.

"She has my son. If I don't do what she says-"

"But we can tell everyone that she did it. It'd be four of us, so they'd have to believe us." Interrupts Skipper.

"They would never." Whispers Professor Samantha. Rico coughs up a tape-recorded. It plays back the last bit of what Michelle had said

_"You had better find them or your son will be paying the price. Understand?" _Professor Samantha looks at it with disbelief. Was that proof? After all this time, so many tries to do this, so many failed attempts, she finally had proof?

"So, what do you say?" asks Skipper. All Professor Samantha can do is nod gratefully.

* * *

"Here's the plan boys." Says Skipper pointing to the drawing Kowalski had made on his clipboard. "Michelle will be expecting Professor Samantha to load the eggs and to find us so she'll know it might take a while. The hallway to the girl's hallway is blocked so we'll have to go through the secret hallway in order to get the eggs back to the incubation room. Rico and I will take care of that. Meanwhile Kowalski and Private will hide in one of the boxes for Professor Samantha to take. You two will hide there and make sure that she doesn't leave; we'll come help you as soon as all of the eggs are safe. Once we're in we ambush Michelle-she won't be hard to take down-we bring her back and make her confess. If she doesn't we have the recording. Either way her goose is cooked." The others nod along to this; sure that this will go flawlessly. Skipper and Rico begin hauling some of the eggs carefully down the hallway as Kowalski and Private jump into the box. They feel themselves being wheeled out, and they can suddenly hear the wind against the cardboard.

"We're almost there." They hear Professor Samantha whisper to them. Private asks Kowalski for his pen, who hands it over questioningly. Private smiles and punches two holes on the front of the box and two more on a spot where Kowalski would be comfortable looking out from. Kowalski smiles at him

"Well done Private." He congratulates quietly, looking out through the holes he had made. In front of them stood a large helicopter, a lot flashier than the one that Shimmy rode. They feel a small jolt as the wheels of the luggage cart stick a bit on the ramp. Inside the helicopter they see Michelle leaning back on her chair. She turns around when she hears Professor Samantha.

"Did you catch them?" she asks. They don't see what Professor Samantha does, but it seemed to make Michelle angry.

"If you want anything done you have to do it yourself," she says bitterly "my pop always told me that. 'Never rely on anyone else.'" She begins stomping away but stops on her tracks. She turns back to face Professor Samantha.

"That wasn't the only thing he told me though." She walks forward, her face set on the box. Kowalski and Private shrink back. "He also told me 'your insubordinates will sometimes try very stupid stunts." She opens the box and steps back as Kowalski and Private jumps out at a loss of anything else to do. Michelle stares at them amused.

"So this is your rescue mission?" She laughs. "A swot that can't fight and a young hatchling? Samantha I didn't know you were so desperate." She charges forward and tackles Kowalski. Private watches this and thinking quickly he jumps against her, pushing her off of him. Michelle growls at Private and throws him against the wall. Private sits dizzily. Kowalski looks at him and he instantly feels furious. He charges at Michele and they begin the fight. He jabs at her neck, but she dodges and flips him, smashing him against the ground. He ignores the pain that goes down his spine and does a roundhouse, aiming at her. She grabs him by the flipper though, and throws him out of the helicopter. Kowalski stands quickly but falls back when the gush of the helicopter's blades begin to spin. He watches appalled as the helicopter begins to rise into the air. He quickly jumps, reaching for the edge of the ramp, knowing all the while that he wouldn't be able to grab on. A small flipper grabs a hold of his. He looks up in surprise at Private's face peeking off the edge of the raft. He struggles to pull him up, and Kowalski tries to reach with his other flipper. Private winces from the weight he couldn't bear and feels the sharp edge of the ramp dig against his skin. He feels his body straining and knew that he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. Kowalski reaches more frantically, the ground getting farther and farther away from him. He realizes that if he falls he would drag Private down with him. He had to let go, or Private would also go along with him.

"You have to let me go Private!" he calls over the sound of the blades. Private's eyes go wide with fear. He shakes his head, and pulls even harder, though all that happens is that he slips lower down.

"You won't be capable of hoisting me up!" Calls Kowalski more frantically "Let go! If I don't make it at least you will be here to complete the mission." Private's eyes begin to water. They slide down lower and Private feels himself loosing his balance. A few more seconds and they would fall.

"Private now!" screams Kowalski. Private shakes his head.

"Miss. Annabel told me that we must always stick together." He whimpers. Kowalski looks at the young penguin. He wasn't even a day old and he was about to die. He couldn't allow that. Kowalski uses his free flipper to try to pry the other one from Private's grasp. Private's grip gets impossibly tighter. They slide farther down, and it as obvious that now their weight was outbalanced. They both slide down more quickly, the ground getting closer. Kowalski closes his eyes and waits for the sense of freefall. He looks up and sees Professor Samantha grabbing on to his other flipper. She pulls them up and Kowalski feels the sweet sensation of solid ground beneath his feet. She smiles as they walk back into the helicopter. Kowalski pulls a surprised Michelle out of the pilot's seat and Professor Samantha takes the wheel. They begin to fight again, Private helping him out until finally, they're left with Michelle dangling out of the helicopter. She looks down at the ground and all the fierceness leaves her.

"Kowalski" she whimpers "Please help me. Please." Kowalski looks down at her. He couldn't let her fall, than again, this could be a trick. Private looks at him, signaling that he would be with him whatever decision he made.

"Please Kowalski. You don't actually believe that I'm bad do you?" That draws Kowalski's attention. He steps forward. Michelle's eyes shine with hope.

"I'm working undercover. I had to get the eggs out of here or they would have been stolen for real. Nobody would believe me so I had to act on my own." Kowalski is still skeptical.

"Than why did you threaten Professor Samantha?" he asks.

"I had to, I couldn't do this alone, but I _swear_ it was all for a good cause. You believe me don't you?" She looks at him, and the same look of innocence fills her face. There was no way to doubt her.

"Why did you shut us in a cage than?" jumps in Private. Michelle looks at him

"You were working against me, and I had to keep the eggs safe." She turns back to Kowalski. "You know I'm on your side. Remember what I told you?" she asks.

Kowalski's thought brought him involuntarily back to the hallway. He could remember Michelle standing in front of him looking very awkward.

"_Kowalski, I …I, I really like you." _He didn't share her feelings, but he felt that if she had gone far enough to tell him that she was telling the truth. Kowalski stretches his flipper out to Michelle and she takes it gratefully. Private takes her other flipper and helps her too. Michelle smiles at them.

"Thanks Kowalski." She says smiling sweetly "I always knew you were an idiot." She grabs him by the flipper and shoulder and throws him out the door. Kowalski seems to disappear into the air.

"Kowalski!" yells Private. He runs to the door and looks down, his soft gray down ruffled by the harsh wind.

* * *

Skipper and Rico run to catch up with the others. They had gotten all of the eggs to a very grateful Annabel who was now caring for them. They get there in time to see Kowalski fall out of the helicopter. They run even faster and hold their flipper out catching him in time. Luckily the helicopter had been landing back so he hadn't been that far from the ground. Kowalski smiles relieved that he wasn't a penguin pancake and waves to Private whose anxious face met his.

"We still have to get Michelle." He informs the others. They wait for the helicopter to land and barge inside the helicopter to a very suprising sight. Professor Samantha at the wheel smiling gleefully and a very proud looking Private stood beside Michelle. She was tied up with some wires from the helicopter. Skipper laughs heartily.

"Guess Private's got that handled."

"We have all of the eggs back in the incubator and have managed to unblock the girl's hallway. We also found the picture that you mentioned Skipper." Commander Makenzi takes out the shattered portrait. It was still possible to make out Professor Samantha and Michelle in it, a slightly sick look on Professor Samantha's face. Skipper high-fives his team, including a thrilled Private.

"I would call this a successful mission." Says Commander Makenzi "Michelle has

been caught, and now she will be paying for all of the crimes she's committed. You boys will be heading back to your academy at Commander South's request where you will receive an honorable welcome I suppose." She smiles at them and they smile back.

"Private," She continues turning to the young chick "Your uncle Nigel will be here to pick you up, he's decided to train you himself instead." The mood instantly shifts.

Kowalski, Rico, and Skipper look at Private confused.

"But, I thought I would get to go with them." Says Private. Commander Makenzi shakes her head.

"Your uncle requested specifically that you go with him."

"Hold up." Cuts in Skipper "Let me speak to this uncle of his." Commander Makenzi seems confused but still begins dialing on the phone. She hands it to Skipper who mumbles thanks and listens to the other end.

"Hello, yes, this is Skipper. I'm calling on behalf of your nephew Private." Private's eyes go wide, Skipper flashes him a quick sly smile.

"No, no, that's just what we've named him…yes. Well, you see, Private here has shown a lot of potential, and we are sure that he would be a downright dandy addition to our team…well, it is far away, but we still carry the same amount of discipline as in here…Skipper, yes, I'm seven years old…We would also be under the guidance of Commander South at the Base…We are an elite force sir, we can train him to be a soldier of honor…I would…I give you my word…today?…of course sir…thank-you, It's been a pleasure talking with you… yes bye." Skipper hangs up and looks at his team; they were practically bursting with curiosity to know what had happened.

"Private," begins Skipper. Private clasps his flippers in anticipation. "Welcome to the team."

* * *

[ A year later]

Skipper watches proudly as Kowalski and Rico go to get their diploma. They were finally graduating out of the academy and would now be going out into the world to do whatever they wanted. Beside him sits Private. He was taller than before, though still the shortest. His gray feathers ruffle as the wind blows and he looks at Skipper happily. Since he was so young, they would train him instead of leaving him at the academy waiting for his turn to graduate.

"This is going to be a fun time ain't it Skippah?" Skipper smiles. The British accent had stuck with him. It was obvious that all that time with Miss. Annabel talking to him as an egg had left him with it.

"Sure is Private, sure is."

Kowalski steps down from the podium and goes to Skipper and Private, Rico following. They high-five each other smiling hugely.

"Where to Skipper?" he asks. Skipper thinks for a minute

"I've always wanted to visit Ecuador." He says. The team looks at each other and nod. They toboggan out of the base to the cheers of their teachers and younger recruits. Kowalski looks at his teammates. He could remember that he hadn't wanted to get there when he was a chick, how he had met Commander South, his first test with Dr. Reece, meeting Rico and Skipper, their first mission, Shimmy driving their plane, getting to Atlantis, finding Annie, getting rid of Blowhole, all of their other missions they had made, and now, having Private in their team.

He wondered if his parents had had adventures like his when they were his age, and whether it would have been the same if they had survived. He felt a pang of sadness as he remembered them, but than he saw his friends and felt better. After all, they were now his family.

* * *

Guess what? i lied! this isn't the last chapter, unless you don't count an epilogue as a chapter, in wich case i just lied again, though involuntarily. The epilogue will be up tomorrow, cause I've already finished it but i just love building dramatic tension. Wafflette (Ivy), it will be your turn to shine :) How about reviewing and letting me know how bad or good the ending was, or should i call it semi-ending?


	14. Epilogue

Sorry i didn't update yesterday like i promised...i was busy XD

anywho, thank-you to Ivy, you are AMAZING!

Man, i can't believe this is my last chapter. I'm so HAPPY! and so sad. *sniff* enough about me, on with the story!

* * *

Epilogue

Ivy makes her way down the beach, her friend Fir walking beside her. She was enjoying a peaceful day in her island. It was very nice there, the sun warming her feathers, the ocean so fun to swim in. She was the only penguin there, but she still had many friends. She was especially close to the hutias, who took her in and gave her a home when she first showed up at the island.

Fir found a coconut on the sand and showed it to Ivy.

"I got us some lunch." She said enthusiastically. Ivy smiled; she could always rely on her little hutia friend. Ivy takes out the knife she always carried with her and makes three holes on the coconut to take out the juice. She lets Fir drink some of it before her; after all she had been the one to find it. They pass the coconut between them until it runs out of juice, than they take it with them in search of a rock to crack it open with. It was such a peaceful place in the island. There were very rarely humans in it, and everything was covered in nature. Ivy walks down a very familiar spot on the beach. She could remember that that was the very first place on the island that she had seen. It was all a blur to her but she still knew that it was like it had been the first day of her life. Fir had found her and asked her if she was okay.

_"Who are you?" Ivy had asked confused. _

_"I'm Fir," The young hutia had told her smiling warmly "who are you?" _

_"I…I…" she had struggled to remember_

"Ivy?" Fir had finished. Ivy had nodded relieved that she had an answer. Fir had taken her to her home and presented to her family who gladly took her in. Ivy still lived with them; they had practically become her family. Basically everyone in the island was. Everyone enjoyed her company and liked to hear her when she sang at night. Ivy was glad that the animals of the island liked her despite the fact that she was the only penguin.

Fir points to a boulder nearby. She takes the coconut from Ivy and rolls it against the boulder. The coconut makes hard hollow sound but doesn't break and instead rolls back to them stopping with the three holes facing them.

"Well, that didn't work." Giggles Fir, Ivy doesn't answer. There was something about the way the coconut looked that seemed familiar.

"What are you looking at?" asks Fir amused.

"Does that coconut seem a bit, like, I don't know…like you've seen it before?"

Fir looks at the coconut with interest.

"Well, it's not the first coconut we've seen before, is that what you mean?" Fir looks confused. Ivy shakes her head.

"I mean, doesn't it seem to you like…like…a bowling ball?" the strange word comes from her beak unexpectedly. Fir seems even more confused.

"What's a bowling ball?" There were no such things in the island. Ivy struggled to remember where she would get such a word. A strange flashback of a young penguin comes into mind. He still had his down feathers, and he was a bit odd-looking. She could remember how she once had had her down feathers too. Still, she didn't know how the image of that boy and the bowling ball came together. She goes to sit on the boulder to think. Fir goes to her.

"Are you okay?" she asks worried. Ivy nods her head absentmindedly; it was all coming together, though a bit slowly.

"Do you still want to eat the coconut?" asks Fir. Ivy shakes her head. This was a bit puzzling to her, but she felt that it was important. The boy had given her the bowling ball; a dog had thrown it to a fox, but why? She could remember a fight, boys, yes there were more boys. One also had down feathers and he carried something in his arms, a clipboard, yes, that's what it was. The other was a bit short, and he was always smiling cleverly. The fourth, the fourth was clearer to her. He was the tallest of them all, somehow she felt a sudden surge of worry for him. Of course, he had been hurt, his head had a deep cut, he was asleep and she had been so angry. The dolphin had laughed at him and she had wanted so bad to hurt him back.

_"If Shimmy doesn't make it…"_

Shimmy. His name was Shimmy, her brother. He brother?! Ivy gasps out loud.

"What is it?" asks Fir, she was sitting next to Ivy waiting for her to talk. Fir was a very perceptive girl, and she knew that right now Ivy needed time to think before she could answer.

"Was I ever…" Ivy doesn't know what to say. The uncompleted question floated in her head scrambling all of her thoughts. Fir sits quietly, waiting.

Ivy shakes her head trying to clear her mind. Was she ever what? Someone else? That was impossible. She had been living in the island all of her life, had always been Ivy. But… but, she knew that it hadn't really been all of her life. When she first showed up she had at least been 4 months old. No one knew where she came from, not even her, and she hadn't placed much thought on the subject because to her there _had_ been no before. When she showed up no one asked questions, they just took her in; they had always been trustworthy of everyone. There had never been any reason for them to lie, or worry, because there were no problems on the island. Yet, Ivy remembered that before, while she had been with the boys in her mind, there _had_ been mistrust, worry, and fear. She had been afraid for her brother, so mad at the dolphin for doing it that she had hit him many times. Suddenly something pulled her down, there had been no floor below her, air had been blowing against her and she had suddenly felt a hard hit all over. The dolphin, Blowhole, had tried to get back on the plane, by flying; she could remember that that was what had made their fall less painful. She had clung to him when she realized that he could fly, but he hastily threw her down. She hadn't been able to get out of the water. It had been everywhere, so dark and she hadn't been able to tell up from down. Than everything had gone black. When she woke up she was here, she wasn't afraid, or worried because she had felt the sunlight and nothing else had mattered, nothing else had ever been as far as she knew. Fir had found her and helped her. She had become her friend. Ivy realized though, that somewhere she had a brother, and she had to make sure he was all right. She stands up suddenly searching around, hoping to maybe see him walking towards her out of the tall trees before her.

"What are you looking for Ivy?" Ivy didn't turn.

"Ivy?" Ivy turns and sees her friend Fir looking very worried. Ivy? No, she wasn't Ivy. Shimmy had never called her Ivy. He had called her Annie.

"Ivy you're starting to scare me." Whimpered Fir. Annie blinked in the sunlight trying to get all of her thought together. She wasn't who she thought she had been. Not Ivy, but Annie, the Annie that had a brother to take care of, who had had other penguin friends, the Annie that needed to get out of this island to find them.

"I need a boat." She says. Fir looks relieved that she had finally answered, but puzzled that she had asked for a boat.

"What do you need a boat for?"

Annie looks at her hutia friend and takes a deep breath.

"I think…I think that…let me start from the beginning." Annie tells her friend all about who she was, the memories finally flowing freely from a place deep in her mind where they had been locked all this time.

* * *

Shimmy sits in his car. There was no one taking a mission that day so he was allowed to cruise around the city. His phone rings, suprising him. _Had he forgotten to make an errand?_ He picks up the phone.

"Shimmy here." He says waiting for the impending reprimand from the Commander.

"Shimmy I need you to get back to the base right now." Says Commander South unexpectedly.

"Why sir?"

"There's someone here who wants to see you." replies Commander South. His voice sounded different, a bit choked and gruff at the same time.

"On it." Shimmy turns the car around and heads back to The Base. He could only guess at who was waiting for him. _Perhaps his favorite crew was taking a break from their mission to visit? Though he hadn't seen Kowalski or his friends in a while now. Either way, perhaps it would be something nice, perhaps a visit from an old friend. _Shimmy whistles as he enters the receptionist was nowhere in sight, which instantly made Shimmy worried. The front desk was never left unattended. His steps speed as he goes into the elevator. The sound of it's descend makes him nervous so by the time he's in the hallway he's practically running. He barges through the door of Commander South's office, not even bothering to knock. Commander South was sitting calmly at his desk. In front of him sat a young penguin. She seemed to be about seven years old, when he burst through the door her eyes looked at him shining brightly. He didn't know who she was. He stepped forward slowly, feeling very awkward. Commander South only smiles at him silently. Shimmy turns back to the strange girl, hoping that maybe she will explain. Her eyes fill with tears as she stands. _Her eyes._ He knew them. He saw them every time he looked in the mirror and every time he thought back on the way his dad had looked. But there was only one possibility, and it couldn't be real, could it? How many times had he searched for them, hoping that perhaps it was all just a nightmare, that she was playing hide-and-seek like they used to. How much time had he spent trying to find a way to get her back, going to beaches during all of his free time, hoping that maybe she would come out of the water and tell him she was okay. How much guilt had he felt for not being there to help her? How much time had he been feeling that tight feeling like he needed to cry but was never able to?

"Annie?" whispers Shimmy unable to really comprehend who she was.

The girl nods her head.

"Glad to see you again Shimmy." Says Annie hugging the brother she hadn't seen in too many years.


End file.
